Gila Cliff Dwellings

Ever since I was a little boy I have wanted to visit the cliff dwellings that the Native Americans lived in years ago.  I guess the most popular ones are located in Mesa Verde Colorado that the Pueblo Indians lived in.

We have not make it there, yet, but was close enough to the Gila Cliff Dwellings in New Mexico to visit the caves there.  We had to drive a good three hours one way to get to them, but it was well worth it.  

We were pronouncing it with the 'G' in the name but it is actually pronounced with an 'H' sound, just so you know.  I was informed of that by a deputy sheriff who was kind enough to give me a warning for going sixty eight in a sixty mile in hour zone.  I'm lucky he did not give me a ticket!

Gila Cliff Swellings National Monument.

Before we get into our visit there though, we need to have a few words from our sponsor, Courtney's Films.

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Now back to the blog.

If you are driving to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument from the south via Silver City, NM then you have two ways to get there, either Highway 15 or Highway 35.  Traveling Highway 15 the park is only forty four miles from Silver City, but expect it to take a good two hours due to the steepness and curves in the road.  If your vehicle or RV is over twenty feet long, you will want to take Highway 35, which is twenty five miles longer, but does not have such severe curves.  We drove up Highway 15 and drove back on Highway 35 so we could see everything on both routes.

We wanted to get to the caves by 11:00 AM to participate in the guided tour of the dwellings which required us to leave by 6:00 AM so that we had plenty of time to get there which meant that we had to get up around 4:00 AM, but it was well worth it to make the tour. 

Our guide was Brian Phelps who did an excellent job of telling us about the cliff dwellings.  It was his last day on the job and he was very happy to have our six kids, who asked tons of questions, for his last tour.

Brian Phelps giving us a guided tour of the cave dwellings.

Climbing up the mountain to the caves was fun too.  There were lizards and frogs the entire trip and luckily we did not see any snakes at all.  If we would have, Misty would have probably turned around and run away with half the kids behind her.

Misty, Courtney, and Chloe climbing the trail up to the cave dwellings.

One of the lizards sunning on a rock while we climbed up to the cliff dwellings.

A frog or toad that blends in to the arm rail of the bridge.

While going up the trail you get to see one of the openings to the dwellings, which starts to get you excited or at least it did us.

The cave dwellings are coming into view.

They do not know exactly who they were or why the people who built the dwellings left, but think that they were ancient Puebloans of the Mogollon area who later migrated with the Pueblo Indians in Colorado. 

Brian coming to start the tour.

Below you can see depressions in the rock where they ground their corn with a post to make cornmill.

Holes formed in the rock from grinding their corn for cornmill.

There were also fire pits in the caves and rocks found that were used to grind all types of food to eat.

Fire pits and tools used to prepare food.

In some of the caves you can still see paintings where the native people were trying to keep a record or tell a story.

They are not sure what these marks meant.

Here you can see a hand on the wall.

They think this is a drawing of a snake.

Here you can clearly see an image of a person.

Below are a bunch of shots from the caves for you to look at.  You will notice in some of them the black soot on the roofs of the caves where fires have stained them over the many years.

Cave One which is not too deep into the cliff.

Cave Two where the first walls were built.

Another shot of Cave Two.  Notice the T door that is very popular with the Pueblo Indians cliff dwellings.

More of Cave Two.

Lower entrance door was probably not blocked like it is today.

Heading to Cave Three which connects with Cave Four and Cave Five.

All of the roofs are gone, but you can see the posts used to support them.

The walls usually did not go to the cave ceilings so as to provide ventilation.

Living in the cave dwellings was a safe place for the inhabitants.

What you see when looking out of the caves.

You can still make out the layout of this room.

Looking from Cave Four through Cave Five.

One of the big rooms in the cave which was probably used for group gatherings.

Ethan, Ian, Chloe, Tia, Avery, Courtney, and Misty listening to Brian tell us about the dwellings.

They think this room was very important and was used to practice their religion.

Just some more info about when the dwellings were built.

They think there was a colorful mural painted on this wall.

This is what they think was painted on the walls.

Another view from inside the cave to the outside.

They think the doors are so small to serve as a safety feature in case of invasion.  This way they were easier to defend.

Some more rooms built into the caves.

One of the paths connecting the cave dwellings.

Since the caves face the southwest and their openings are shaped and angled perfectly to block the summer sunlight, but let the winter sunlight in, they were cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  It is like God made them just perfect to live in.  Coincidence?  I do not think so.

All the openings face southwest which helps with heating and cooling.

Looking the opposite way in the dwellings.

The kids looking into one of the rooms.

This room was probably used for storage, but may have been used to sleep in too.

Brian, our tour guide, waiting for us to catch up.

Another square room in the dwelling.

This may be what you would have seen 700 years ago stored in this room.

Making sure Chloe gets out safely using the only way down out of this part of the caves.

Not sure what this room was for, but probably for storage.

We are so happy that we took the time to visit the cave dwellings even though it was quite a drive to get to them.  We also had the kids participate in the Junior Ranger Program and earn their badges to make sure they learned something about the dwellings.

All the kids earning their Junior Ranger badges.

So if you are ever near Silver City or Pinos Altos New Mexico, you should drive north to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and check it out.

God bless!

Don, Misty, and Kids...

States we have visited so far.

New Sponsor

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Actually they are not only new, but our first sponsors.  We have not had any sponsors prior to them.  

They are a low budget film company, but we think they have great potential and you may want to find them on the stock market and invest.  If you do not see them on the stock market then just send us the money and we will make sure they get it.  (That's a joke, so please do not send any money!)

This blog is to introduce you to them and their content.  Future blogs will also include their latest trailers and highlights.  This content will only be available on our blog.

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God bless!

Thanks!
 Don, Misty, and Kids...

States we have visited so far.

Carlsbad Caverns

Well it finally came time to leave Oklahoma and travel to New Mexico to see what it had to offer to our adventures and to enable us to check off another state off the map.

One of the first things we did was visit Roswell, New Mexico to try and see if we could have a close encounter of the third kind and did. 

A close encounter of the third kind in Roswell, New Mexico.

We only got to spend one day there, so did not get to see everything there was to see, but at least we can say we were there.

Once we got to our destination for the month, we started to explore our surroundings and see what New Mexico had to offer.  One of the first places we visited was Carlsbad Caverns.  We have seen many of caves in our lifetime, especially living in West Virginia, but we were very impressed with these caverns.

Don, Tia, Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Chloe, and Ian at Carlsbad Caverns.

Misty, Tia, Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Chloe, and Ian at Carlsbad Caverns.

We decided to go into the caves through the Natural Entrance rather than riding down on the elevators to the Big Room.  Some will ride the elevator down and then walk or climb out through the Natural Entrance, but we would recommend that you do it the opposite way and let the elevator bring you up the 750 feet when you are done touring the caves.

It is over a mile to walk in through the Natural Entrance to the Big Room and then 1.2 miles to walk all the way from the Big Room through the main caverns back to where the elevators are.  Coming down from the Natural Entrance will work on your leg muscles so by the time you get to the Big Room you may not feel like walking around it, but it is well worth it for the views.

Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

Looking down into the Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

Looking out of the Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

The Natural Entrance path in Carlsbad Caverns.

More of the Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

They sell drinks, sandwiches, and snacks out of a snack bar located near the elevators in the Big Room, but they are pretty expensive if you ask us.  They also have a restaurant up in the main building if you do not want to drive out of the park for food.

Just one of the many columns in the caverns.

Since the average temperature in the caverns is 56F you will probably want to bring a light jacket to keep warm.  We had ours, but ended taking them off after a while since we did get a little hot after walking for so long.

Chloe and Misty.

Avery, Ethan, Ian, Tia, and Courtney.

The pictures in the blog do not do the caverns justice or show the volume of pictures we took since it was well over two hundred.  I would have taken more, but my phone died from a low battery.

Holes that formed in a stalactite.

Soda straws that are thin hollow stalactites.

More stalactites and stalagmites.

Another column formed when a stalactite and stalagmite met.

Ribbon stalactites that formed in the caverns.

The below picture is of the three largest stalagmites in the caverns.

Three largest stalagmites in the caverns.

After touring the caverns we stuck around for the flying of the bats which was very interesting.  Unfortunately you can not take any pictures or movies since the electronics mess with the bats when they emerge from the caverns, so no pictures.

While sitting in an amphitheater located at the Natural Entrance to the caverns just before sunset, thousands and thousands of bats will start to swirl out and fly out over the country side to eat for the night.  If you sit still enough they will come within feet of you while flying over your heads.  It was well worth the wait to watch.

The amphitheater just outside of the Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns where the bats come out at night.

So if you are ever near Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, it is well worth the trip to visit it.  It was well worth the six hour round trip we drove to visit it.

We will have more from New Mexico in future blogs like our visits to White Sands National Monument and more.

God bless and may He watch over you and yours!

Thanks!
Don, Misty, and Kids...
 

States we have visited so far.