Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is a remote park with seven caves in the cliff face, six of them were occupied. When I say remote, I mean an hour and a quarter of twisting, narrow road north of Silver City. The Park Service says to allow two hours, but that must be for eastern flat landers. The road was too narrow to allow painted lines, but it was paved. The reason this place was on our itinerary is that you can enter the ruins; that’s rare.
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- Gila Cliff Dwellings because they are on the Gila River which runs just south of Phoenix. Here it has water in it.
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- The 1.25-mile trail parallels Cliff Dweller Creek.
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- Patient lizard posed for pictures on the way up.
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- First glimpse.
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- Looking up the canyon where lookout posts were hidden.
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- The plateau across the canyon was their farming area.
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- Another posing lizard; this one on the trail out.
