Gila Cliff Dwellings and the Gila Wilderness

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Well, we've finally hit a lot of spots with no internet coverage, even with our MIFI hotspot and booster antenna. We've done pretty well this winter compared to last winter. Our booster has helped and I think that there has been an improvement in the cellular network, which is where we draw our internet connections. AT&T, which is my phone, seems to have less coverage, and Verizon, Greg's phone and the MIFI hotspot have better coverage. This posting and the previous one will finally be posted when we have a decent connection.

Tuesday morning, after a cold night below freezing, we woke to a dry, sunny day and prepared to see the cliff dwellings. Gila Cliff Dwellings is a very small park, with a tiny visitor center, which has an RV dump and water, and two very small Forest Service campgrounds with no facilities. They call it a destination park. People don't happen to drive by and stop in, or seek it out like the large popular parks. Anyone who arrives plans to be there and visit the dwellings. It is literally at the end of Highway 15, also known as Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway. During Daylight Savings Time tours are given daily at 11 AM. Visitors are also allowed to tour on their own, in the caves, very different from the larger, more popular cliff dwellings. There is a half mile hike up 175' to the caves on the side of the cliff that contain the dwellings.

We hiked up along a flowing stream, then up the cliff, and joined Marty for his tour. Our guide is a volunteer who is retired military, who fulltimes in his 40' RV with his wife. They have been fulltiming for three years and spends months at a time volunteering at various parks. This is their second time at Gila. Marty spends his free time going through the museum records and teaching himself more about the history, geology, and anthropology of the area.

The babbling stream next to the trail

I don't think many people realize what all the government budget cuts have done to the state and federal park systems. Jobs that were previously filled by paid staff are now frequently filled by volunteers, who receive free hook-ups for their RV's and part time hours. I don't feel that the park systems have suffered, in fact every volunteer we've met has been committed to their job, and like Marty, has gone beyond the training they have received as interpreters. Other volunteers supervise campgrounds, work at visitor centers and do maintenance and trail restoration. I suppose you could make the argument that they are taking away jobs from younger people looking for careers with the park service. But, honestly, the money is not there to hire, and without the volunteers, these jobs wouldn't get done and, in many cases, the park would be shut down.
Back to our tour. The Gila dwellings are seven caves built by the ancient Puebloan peoples from 1276 to 1287. They moved on around 1300. There is speculation whether they located there because of drought, or left because of it. The rooms are built within the caves, and the park service has done a minimum amount of restoration, mostly to stabilize them. Unfortunately, they were heavily looted of their artifacts before archeologists were able to study the site. Marty took us through the dwellings and narrated the history that archaeologists have been able to determine. Since we only had a half dozen people on the tour, we were able to have a personalized, close-up look at the dwellings. What a difference from Mesa Verde, which is far grander in size, but crowded and regimented.

Cliff dwellings constructed in natural caves in volcanic conglomerate bedrock

View up the canyon from the Cliff Dwellings

Our guide, Marty

Campfire soot on cave roof

Ancient corn cobs

Local Resident

The babbling stream disappears underground abruptly a few hundred yards above the Gila

Gila River near Lower Scorpion camp

We spent over two hours looking at the ruins and meeting new people on the very narrow cliff side trail. The smaller site seemed to make it easy to get to know people, and the warming sun, which was angled perfectly to warm the caves in winter and keep them cool in summer, was pleasant. Finally, we hiked down and toured the small museum at the trailhead. Then we drove five miles back out Highway 15 to the Forest Service's campground named Forks. It was a small campground, but almost empty and we found a spot on the cliff overlooking the junction of the West Branch of the Gila River, and the main Gila River. Deciding to stay another night in the Gila Wilderness was easy. It was a beautiful, quiet spot.

West Branch of the Gila River floodplain

Looking down on the Gila River with Alum Mountain in the Background

View of the Gila from our camp

West Fork camp

Wow, after a day near 80 degrees, we had a night below freezing! With no TV, phone, or internet, we looked at a DVD movie, read, and were so tired that we went to bed early... again. I am a night owl, but..., not so easy some days!


When we reached the intersection with Route 35 we drove southeast on that instead of taking the rest of winding Highway 15 back to Silver City. Finally emerging at the flat lands of the Mimbres River valley, we made the decision to drive south towards Deming and back to City of Rocks State Park. Our records showed that we had internet connections there almost two months ago, and we really enjoyed our nights camping among the volcanic rock outcrops and large boulders. By the time we reached there, the wind was gusting up to 35 mph, and we soon discovered that our favorite site was on the wrong side of the rocks to break the wind. We drove around to the sunset side and found a new spot. The campground will be full tonight as Spring Break seems to have started. There is a muddy glow on the horizon as the sun sets due to all the dust blowing across the desert. We are relatively sheltered, but expect another cold night, probably in the 20's. From here we will decide our route back to Maryland since we are due there around the 21^st. Oh, and the blowing dust seems to be interfering with the MIFI signal and we still don't have enough bandwidth to post, especially photos. Guess we'll have to wait...