Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

Monday, 10 December

As forecast, the low temperature got to 32 degrees.  As the high temperature was only going to be about 50 degrees, we planned today to be a sightseeing day.

Our first stop was Silver City, NM, about 60 miles north of Deming, which was on the way to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.  We decided to go to the Silver City Visitor Center for local information and tips on what to see.  OMGosh - the lady at the Visitor Center was full of knowledge and very helpful on things of interest.  

Our research showed two routes to get to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, and without knowing much about the roads, thought we might make it a loop.  We learned the loop we had considered was the Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic By-Way.  She advised that vehicles over 20’ long were not recommended due to tight hairpin curves and narrow blind curves.  Then she mentioned the ice on the road going over the Pinos Altos pass.  That made it easy, and we decided on going up and back on the slightly longer route.

After getting lots and lots of good information, we headed out of Silver City, passing huge pit mines.  The Silver City area has a long history of mining, both copper and silver.  

Unfortunately the Chino Open Pit Copper Mine  Overlook was closed, so we could not get a decent photo.  The mines seemed to us to be the kind of mines where they have the big dump trucks with wheels 20’ in diameter.  Photo of a photo of the Chino Open Pit Mine:

As we headed up the Mimbres Valley on NM 35, we crossed the Continental Divide at an elevation of 6,600 feet.

The terrain was stunning.  Unfortunately we were not able to stop and get more photos as there weren’t many pullouts, and most were on the small side.

First stop was the national monument Visitor Center, where we watched a video about the cliff dwellings.  The dwellings were constructed about 1270 AD, and only lived in for about 30 years.  There are seven natural caves high in a southeast-facing cliff, and five of the caves contain ruins of cliff dwellings, about 42 rooms.  They are remarkably preserved, likely due to the remoteness.  Before the road was built, it took 4WD to access and earned the designation as “the most difficult National Monument in the continental United States for people to reach.”

We thought the drive into Mesa Verde in Colorado was quite a drive - today’s drive was almost 2 hours to Gila from Silver City.

We also asked the ranger about the road we did not take - he also advised against taking Sprinty on that road.

We were not sure what to expect on the one mile hike to the cliff dwellings.  The park volunteer advised that we could go up the trail in either direction, and the return leg was less steep than the normal direction.  Either way, it was going to be a 175 foot elevation gain in about half a mile.  We could go in either direction because there were so few people on the trail.  In other parts of the year (March & April seem to be to peak time), they require you to do the hike in the specified direction.

Arriving at the cliff dwellings, we were surprised to hear voices coming from inside the cliff dwellings.  We did not expect we would be able to actually go inside.  But up the ladder we went, which we later learned was the exit.  We got to wander in a lot of the dwellings, which was major cool.  Exiting the entrance was much easier as it was via stairs instead of a wood ladder.

Heading down, Kris decided to return the less steep way we had come up, and Darrell went the steep way down.

After departing the main area of the national monument, we stopped at the Campbell store as suggested by the ranger.  Being the only store of any kind in the area, it had a little bit of everything.  Then we went to check out the Gila hot springs.  The Campbell family operate the hot springs - $5 for an all-day soak pass, $8 to camp which includes the use of the three hot springs pools.  While Darrell really wanted to experience the hot tub, in the interest of time, he had to pass.  We did meet the operator who told us the water at the source was 150 degrees, and they adjust the pool temperature to about 103 degrees by how much hot water flows into the pools.  Another thing added to the “next time” list.

Our reason for skipping the soak was two-fold.  As much as camping there (no hookups) was interesting, the forecast low temperature of 20 degrees or less meant Sprinty was not ready for the adventure.  Second reason was our Plan A for where to stay tonight was City of Rocks State Park in Faywood, NM.  We wanted to get there in time to see the rocks, as well as set up in daylight.

We arrived at the City of Rocks State Park about 4pm and found there were two electric sites available (out of 10), and a lot of non-electric sites.  The campground has 51 sites, and only about 6 are reservable.  The rest are first-come/first-served.

Had the anticipated low temperature been 10 degrees warmer, we would have opted for the one of the non-electric sites, many of which are among the rocks:

After getting Sprinty settled, we took a hike through the rocks.  It was awesome.  It reminded us of the top of Old Rag Mountain in Virginia, only bigger.

We first learned about the City of Rocks State Park in a RV video on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/cAwhfwGwUVM.  jump to 1:50 for the part about City of Rocks State Park.

Located about 40 miles north of I-10, it really is not on most people’s route unless they are going to Silver City or the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.