Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument 6/14/2009

How did Lewis ad Clark keep a journal? Clearly they had less time to work with than I do. After all, they had a niggling little thing best described as survival to contend with...daily. Anyway, today it seems that keeping a journal is more difficult than finding internet connections and survival consists of avoiding accident.



We arrived in Silver City New Mexico at around 10pm and quickly realized we could not connect to the available wifi. It and the wash room were primary reasons for staying in a private campground. We got the code the next morning. It was a nice small clean campground that seemed primarily to cater to the retired. Phoenix is hot while Silver city is less hot, so they hide from the Phoenix summer in Silver City. Kind of the opposite of a snowbird. A sunbird? As an aside, we drove through Phoenix during dusk after leaving Silver City and what we saw of it was beautiful. It is easily the most attractive of the large cities we have seen so far.



We unhooked the camper from the Sienna for the first time the next morning. Gila national park was planned for the day. Within a couple of hours we had left the desert and were in a mountain climate much more like home. There were two routes to the park from Silver City. We chose to take the longer more attractive first and returned on the other more industrial route. The route back took us past the largest strip mines I have seen. The route to the park was a winding unpainted small road that made us happy the camper was left behind and surprised us with the continental divide. Along the way we saw a couple of campgrounds. They were cheap and nice and with the park pass they were cheaper than most folks would have to pay. That was something to remember for later.



We were able to use our park pass for Gila. This park is smaller and less traveled than Mesa Verde but could boast similar attractions. Cliff dwellings. It is a more intimate park than Mesa Verde and they allow limited hands on exploration of the ruins. We were alone much of the time. Nice. The location of the ruins required a short hike on a well foliated path from the parking lot.





While driving through the park we crossed Gila river a few times. On previous trips out west I wanted to walk down to the rivers we crossed. They looked so inviting but the cold overruled that. This being a summer trip, though, allowed us to take advantage of the Gila river. The kids were able to wade in the water some. The rivers here are not like the ones at home. There are no steep slippery muddy banks and the water is clear and quick.




It was getting late and from Gila we headed back to the campground for our second night. No cloths got washed as we arrived late and left early the next morning for the Sonoran desert. One of the reasons we chose this campground was the washer and dryer. I guess the cloths will come later.