Member II
It's been a while, but talking about this in another thread reminded me to add it here.
The Gila Cliff Dwellings in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico was a fun place to explore.
This is the perfect family adventure, does not require a truck, and is either blacktop or good dirt/gravel depending on the route you choose to get there. If you're relatively close to the area you can do this as a day trip.
We were coming from Socorro and took the small roads through Hillsboro and wound around up through the national forest until we made it to the cliff dwelling area. The road winds around and though the mountains and offers some spectacular views. In many places it's just barely 2 lanes with no place to pull over so some of the best views you can't easily stop and take pictures.
There are several places to camp in the area. We chose to stay at the Upper Scorpion camp ground which is about 1/4 mile to the cliff dwellings themselves. The Lower Scorpion camp ground is only a little further away and I believe it's close to the river, but I'm not sure.
The site allows for primitive camping. You will need to make sure you bring your own water as there is no drinkable water available at the camp sites. It's set up for tent camping, but I was able to pull up next to the edge of the ground and open my tent over into the dirt/grassy area and was good to go. There are primitive toilets near by.
Keep your storage bins and other things closed. The animals are curious. I had a skunk decide to check out my utility bin because I had left it open while we were by the picnic tables one night. I was able to use a flash light to light up the area near the skunk and he decided to leave. Without incident. Fortunately. :)
The hike to the cliff dwellings is pretty short, but does have a good bit of elevation change. I forget the details, but one of the rangers likened it to climbing an 8 to 10 story stair case every trip up to the dwellings. My daughter had no problem on the hike (she was 8 or 9).
Pay attention to the signs at the start of the trail though. I missed the "no food" sign. Evidently they've had some animal encounters with people bringing food up there (not to mention those that throw their trash on the ground), so they don't allow food on the trail up to the cliff dwellings. We missed that and brought a protein bar up that we stopped and ate on the way down.
Overall it was a fun, short hike for my daughter and I. Beautiful area, great drive, and quiet place to enjoy time with the family.
The Gila Cliff Dwellings in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico was a fun place to explore.
This is the perfect family adventure, does not require a truck, and is either blacktop or good dirt/gravel depending on the route you choose to get there. If you're relatively close to the area you can do this as a day trip.
We were coming from Socorro and took the small roads through Hillsboro and wound around up through the national forest until we made it to the cliff dwelling area. The road winds around and though the mountains and offers some spectacular views. In many places it's just barely 2 lanes with no place to pull over so some of the best views you can't easily stop and take pictures.
There are several places to camp in the area. We chose to stay at the Upper Scorpion camp ground which is about 1/4 mile to the cliff dwellings themselves. The Lower Scorpion camp ground is only a little further away and I believe it's close to the river, but I'm not sure.
The site allows for primitive camping. You will need to make sure you bring your own water as there is no drinkable water available at the camp sites. It's set up for tent camping, but I was able to pull up next to the edge of the ground and open my tent over into the dirt/grassy area and was good to go. There are primitive toilets near by.
Keep your storage bins and other things closed. The animals are curious. I had a skunk decide to check out my utility bin because I had left it open while we were by the picnic tables one night. I was able to use a flash light to light up the area near the skunk and he decided to leave. Without incident. Fortunately. :)
The hike to the cliff dwellings is pretty short, but does have a good bit of elevation change. I forget the details, but one of the rangers likened it to climbing an 8 to 10 story stair case every trip up to the dwellings. My daughter had no problem on the hike (she was 8 or 9).
Pay attention to the signs at the start of the trail though. I missed the "no food" sign. Evidently they've had some animal encounters with people bringing food up there (not to mention those that throw their trash on the ground), so they don't allow food on the trail up to the cliff dwellings. We missed that and brought a protein bar up that we stopped and ate on the way down.
Overall it was a fun, short hike for my daughter and I. Beautiful area, great drive, and quiet place to enjoy time with the family.
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