Thursday, April 16, 2009

View from the top
From in the caves
View from below
Building in caves
Inside caves

Down the ladder
White water valley
Cat walk
Water falling in the palm
I was there!
One day of touring, two different sites, 350 miles! This was a long day. We left Deming at 9:30, later than we wanted, but we are still adjusting to the time change. We drove to Silver City (no time to visit this historic town), turned right and drove 2 hours through the Gila National Forest to the end of the road. After a quick visit to the visitors' center and another stamp in my national parks passport, we hiked 1/2 mile up to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. The neat thing about these rooms is that they are unique to this area. Most of the time the people lived in tempory shelters or in the open caves. The walls here were built during a 20 year time frame and then abandoned. We got to the top in time for the tour. The guide had a lot of info about the area formation, and the peoples that lived there. Back in the car we ate lunch--the day was chilly with a cold wind blowing. We drove 20 mph up and in because we were rubbernecking. We drove 40 mph out because we were in a hurry, so the out time was only 1 hour. We drove back to Silver City and turned right for The Catwalk, a national site run by the National Forest Service (no visitors' center, no stamp). This is a 250 ft. metal causeway that clings to the sides of the Whitewater Canyon (20 ft wide at the narrowest, 250 ft deep). The 2 mile round trip walk follows the old route of the water pipeline that supplied water to the mill and town of Graham, both gone now, but originally located at the parking lot. Back at Silver City we toured the local Burger King, then headed home arriving after 8 pm. We only managed to walk about 3 miles. Most of the time we spent driving and viewing some wonderful scenery on the scenic route. We saw a few birds, some ground squirrels, a peccary, and a herd of pronghorns. All in all a wonderful day.
Enough for now!
Louise and Duane

















































































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