The Gila Cliff Dwellings
The drive from Silver City to the Gila Cliff Dwellings was about 45 miles as the crow flies. However it is up and through the Gila National Forest, which is a road that climbs to some epic elevations and has quite a few twists and hairpin turns that will take the average driver almost two hours to complete and reach your destination. This is probably why they are more known but not as visited. I like a challenge.
As I reach the parking area and head to the trail, a ranger is there to greet myself and few other people. He gives us a quick history of the Tularosa Mogollon Indian tribe that called this place home in the 13th century for about 20 to 30 years before abandoning this place. No one really knows why.
I start walking along a babbling creek admiring the start of Autumn in the changing leaves. I see a rattlesnake den in some fallen rocks and a colorful lizard as I start to climb upward. The first of the dwellings can just be made out through the trees. The ancient spirits of the inhabitants plays flute music in the light wind as I enter.
As long as you respect the dwellings, you can enter the caves. There are paintings on some of the walls, the last pieces of a story from another time. You can feel the people gathering around a fire, listening to stories from their Chief about plans for a hunt or perhaps the next stage in gathering food for an upcoming winter.
Why did the families leave here? The work that went into building this place makes you think that maybe famine or drought played a part, but it could have been something bigger. A war with a rival tribe perhaps. Maybe even some cosmic event took these families from their homes. Aliens from another galaxy.
We will most likely never know why they left, and I find a bit of comfort in that. Life is more interesting with a bit of mystery, don’t you think?
