Gila Hot Springs

If we thought the drive over Guadalupe Pass was a challenge, we now think it was a somewhat decent trial run for what we faced getting up to our new most favorite place to wake up. Sorry, that phrase might get old. Mimbres, New Mexico is a little over 30 miles from Gila Hot Springs, but it took us almost two hours to drive Route 15 between the two. Stunning views with no guardrails to block them. Jess got comfortable with the lower gears, and we learned what burning brakes smell like, as we twisted and turned up and down and around past mountain lakes and along the edges of dizzying drops.

The ecosystem changed multiple times as we ascended from the desert up to the ponderosa pines and found ourselves at a magical oasis in the high desert, nestled between cliffs that were made up of a series of impressive columns. It’s called the Bloodgood Tuff, and the columns are piles of petrified ash left over from the eruptions of two super volcanoes between 25 and 50 million years ago. We had booked a two night stay and so could forget about driving back out again for a minute. It didn’t take long to soothe our frayed nerves and tight neck and shoulders in the jacuzzi fed by natural hot springs. That and a stroll across the road through the farm that was teeming with baby goats and other cute animals calmed us right down. Not even arriving at the cute little market, Doc Campbell’s, across the road, anticipating their famous homemade ice cream, at 4:30 and finding they closed at 4 could bring us down.

The next morning we made our way up the road to where it dead-ended at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. A kind ranger greeted us at the trailhead and  gave us the rundown for our one mile hike that would have us climb 18 stories. Also no guardrails. The trail wound up a canyon and along and across streams and through scrub pines. We’d been told the trail up along the dwellings would be narrow and possible crowded, but we didn’t see anyone. But we lucked out and had the dwellings to ourselves. 

With eye on the drop-off, we marveled at the handiwork of the Mogollon people. Over a thousand years ago they somehow constructed several large adobe homes. Some had ladders to reach upper stories, most had multiple rooms, all had great views of the trail waaayyy below and the mountains in the distance. Jess especially wondered about the child-safety features the Mogollon people employed.  

After our visit to the cliffs, we unlocked the bikes and rode to another smaller dwelling site the ranger called the bachelor pad. Jess calls it the nursery because it would have been a lot safer to raise kids there than up on those cliffs. We were able to climb into this structure and wonder who who used it and for what purpose. Nearby, ancient petroglyphs covered a cliff wall, but no one knows much about why the Mogollon people left those behind. They left the area over 1,000 years ago, and the Apache moved in around 1250. 

We decided that we needed ice cream after our exciting morning and this time, we arrived at Doc Campbell’s Post in time to get some and to browse the shop, where we picked up a camp shovel, postcards, and the boys bought wilderness survival and first aid booklets. I guess after our first few outings they decided they couldn’t rely on us for this kind of info. 

We spent more time relaxing in the hot tub, visiting the baby animals, and journaling by lamplight. Cramer got some super star pics over the mountains. 

The next morning we biked again to another spot by the Gila River under the towering cliffs, where we bird watched and threw lots of stones into the river, before packing up to drive down the long, winding road and back to civilization.