A quick trip to NM, but a journey through time

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Roughly a 4 hour drive east of our house is the Gila National Forest, Gila Wilderness and within, the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. Once we were off the main highway and onto the Scenic Byway that leads to & through the park, we were engulfed by trees galore! The byway itself was pretty exciting. There were portions of it that seemed barely wide enough for two passing cars. Luckily for us, we seemed to be the only ones driving the road that day. There was still snow on the ground in places, but the sun was shining & the sky was clear & the brightest of blues. We were unable to park at the regular parking area closest to the dwellings due to the bridge being closed. The west fork of the Gila River had recently swollen with water from rains and it looked as though parts of the bridge had been washed away, were being restored and it was unsafe to drive across--but it was ok for pedestrians. We forgot about the time change between AZ and NM so when we got there we had to walk the mile & half fast to get to the monument before it closed. A very friendly park ranger gave us a quick synopsis of the place before letting us past her, over a bridge and up the trail to the dwellings. We were able to go into the majority of the dwellings, which date back to the 1200s & were built by the Tularosa Mogollon. The only other people there were a couple and a ranger, who happened to be giving them a private tour which we joined in on😊 After visiting the dwellings & imagining what life would be like to live in such a beautiful, pristine locale, we wandered near a trail so that Jeff could hunt for geodes (which I'm pretty sure is the main reason he even wanted to go here😉. Then, before the sun sunk below the horizon, we headed back home.

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