![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cowlesmountain.com\/Travels\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/SilverCityGilaX-001.jpg\")
<\/a>water bottle to a nice plastic one with the Gila Logo.\u00a0\u00a0 It was much lighter than the metal one I had brought.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Afterward we drove to the trail-head and talked ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cowlesmountain.com\/Travels\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/SilverCityGila-004.jpg\")
<\/a>with the ranger about what to expect on the trail.\u00a0\u00a0 The first thing you cross is a fairly large metal bridge over the Gila River.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The trail is a loop, and the ranger said to take the first left to go up the valley.<\/p>\nWe started out early in the morning as it was predicted to be in the high 80’s that day.\u00a0\u00a0 We were pleasantly surprised that 2\/3rds of the hike up was in the The brickwork wasn’t as nice as the Cliff Palace, but being able to touch it was pretty cool.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The inside of the dwelling felt like it was air conditioned, a perfect place to live in the summer months.\u00a0\u00a0 The roof of the biggest chamber was black with soot making me wonder what it might have been like to breathe in there when fires were going.\u00a0 \u00a0I bet no one with asthma lived in there.<\/p>\n We wandered all around and went into a few of the rooms that were easy to get in.\u00a0 One of them had a mural painted and some carving into the adobe bricks.\u00a0\u00a0 The mural was difficult to see, but if you got the right angle to the sunshine, you could just make it out.\u00a0\u00a0 Probably the first American wallpaper!<\/p>\n On the way back we took another route that we had passed the junction maybe 10 miles prior to the park.\u00a0\u00a0 It looked like a much better road but was about 10 miles longer to get back.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a good choice although Kathy wasn’t so sure.\u00a0\u00a0 There were some gorgeous homesteads\/ranches along that way.\u00a0 We hadn’t seen anything like them on the way up.<\/p>\n Just prior to the turnoff to the different road back, I pulled over and let some cars pass us, one beautiful convertible Porsche and a gaggle of BMW motorcycles behind the cars.<\/p>\n Just prior to the turn off to the RV park, I saw the same BMW motorcycles heading the opposite direction.\u00a0 So the extra 10 miles on the better road we went on the way back\u00a0 had about the same travel time!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the early morning drive from Silver City to the National Monument, Kathy remarked that this might be a disappointment after the other spectacular cliff dwellings we visited last year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It took an hour and a half to drive the 44 miles to the park.\u00a0 Most of the roads were 25 mph due to how … <\/p>\n<\/a>shade and a perfect temp for a hike up a hill.\u00a0\u00a0 Then we came to the switchbacks and of course they were in full sun.\u00a0\u00a0 Lots of steps carved into the rocks, probably only about 180′ vertical, but in the sun it felt a lot longer.\u00a0\u00a0 We took advantage of a couple of strategically placed benches in the shade going up the rock face.<\/p>\n<\/a>Once we got to the first opening, there was a small staircase to get up inside.\u00a0 Obviously it wasn’t there when these were occupied.\u00a0 The site was spectacular <\/a>and really a lot more fun as we got to climb in and around the whole place.\u00a0 The other sites we visited\u00a0 last year were highly regulated where you could not get too close to the outside, let alone go in them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So I was not “disappointed” at all.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>After we thoroughly explored the place, we climbed down <\/a>the ladder to finish the loop trail back to the trail head.\u00a0\u00a0 This part of the trail was completely in the sun and by this time it was around noon, so it was toasty.\u00a0 Luckily it was all downhill, except it was much steeper (shorter distance back)\u00a0 and was stairs most of the way.\u00a0\u00a0 Pretty slippery going.\u00a0\u00a0 By the time we got all the way down to the bridge, my knee was starting to bark at me.\u00a0 (Almost a year healed from spraining the MCL).<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>On the road back we passed a huge open pit mine with its overlook fenced off.\u00a0\u00a0 Not sure what was up with that.\u00a0\u00a0 It also had an out-of-place overpass built across the highway.\u00a0 Apparently the large mining trucks needed to get to the other side was my best guess.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n