Gila Cliff Dwellings National Park

Our first lesson of today's adventure was to learn how to pronounce where we were going.  Even though is looks like Gila, it is pronounced Heela.  The main reason to visit here are the cliff dwellings that were built inside the caves high in the mountains, so that was our destination for the day.

But to get to the Gila National Park, we had a long drive up a big mountain.  It was amazing to drive from cactus and desert to pine trees and mountains in just a few miles.

You might notice that there are no lines on this winding road through the mountains.  We were glad that we only met 3 cars during the narrowest 25 miles.

Denisa gets a kick out of taking pictures of GPS screens that look like this.  Mark thinks this is silly, and he purposefully kept going around a curve every time she got the camera focused on the screen.  Of course, maybe this just happened because he was following the road pictured in that GPS screen.  You might notice that the speed limit on the GPS screen shows 55 mph.  There are actually no posted speed limits because there is no way you could drive faster than 40 mph on this road.

We got to the national park in time to watch the video at the visitor center, and then walk 1/2 mile up the trail to where the ranger-led hike started. As you hike the trail, you can see the caves up in the mountain where the dwellings were built.

There are actually 7 caves in a row that were used for temporary protection from the elements over many years by many groups.  These dwellings were built during the late 1200's, as the timber used in the process have been dated between 1276 and 1287.  

About 40 people lived in the cave dwellings, and no one knows for sure why they left around 1299.  It is just amazing that so much of the original cliff dwellings are still standing--protected from the elements by the caves.

The neatest part of visiting these cliff dwellings is that you don't have to just view them from afar; you're allowed to walk within the chambers and imagine life for this group of Mogollons that lived here for a generation.


























We had a fun time at the cliff dwellings, and got some exercise on the 1-mile loop trail to get to the caves they are in.  But we wanted to explore more of the mountains in this area.  So  the Little Bear Canyon was recommended to us for a little more exercise.  It's a 9-mile hike that starts as a boring walk across the desert plains.  It was getting warm and we were beginning to wonder why the two people we talked to had raved about this hike.  Then we headed into a canyon with a little creek.  As the walls of the canyon got higher, the views got better.

 





We stopped in a shady place by a waterfall to eat the lunch we had packed.
It was the best meal we had eaten in a long time just because of the views!  As the walls of Bear Canyon got closer together, we were in the shade for the rest of the hike.







But the highlight of the hike came when we reached the Gila River!

 It was a beautiful blue sky day with stone cliff walls that were over 1000 feet high!






We celebrated our arrival by soaking our feet in the cold river water. Now all we had to do was hike the 4.5 miles back to the car!

After returning to the car, we made another stop at the "Trail to the Past" on our way out of the park.  Our feet complained when they found out we were hiking to the pictographs along this short hike, and then on to another pueblo dwelling built into a ground level cave.  It is amazing that there are places like this that are almost a thousand years old, and we are allowed to experience them first-hand.

We were both tired for the long drive back to the motorhome.  We have both promised our feet that they get the day off from hiking tomorrow.  The drive was beautiful as we drove in and out of the Gila National Park and Wilderness areas.  We were blessed with a glimpse of a herd of elk along the road as the sun was setting.  It was a great day of wandering His wonders!