Gila Cliff Dwellings, Silver City, NM

Author: Our granddaughter, Lucie, age 11

My two bothers, Jack, Lincoln, and I are camping at City of Rocks State Park (CoR) with my Grandma and Grandpa. Today we drove to the Gila Cliff Dwellers about 72 miles north of (CoR). It was quite a trip up the mountain, twisty and “twirvy” the whole way. When we got there, we went to the visitor center. I got a couple post cards, watched a terrific video about the place (The best I have seen yet.), and we acquired three Junior Ranger books. The Center also had a Senior Ranger book, but my grandparents did not feel like doing it. (hee hee) Anyway, we went on our hike up to the cliff dwellings. The view was just gorgeous from the top. Whenever one spoke a word ever so loudly the beautiful canyons would echo each other and make a wonderful sound. There were no tours today, but there were two interpretive guides already up there to give quite a bit of information. We learned about how three holes in the rock could have possibly been used for grinding nuts with a stone. After that we went to other caves and explored. We paused in one of the caves to do some work in our Junior Ranger books. One of the activities for us to do in the book was to write about why the dwellings were special to us, and I wrote, “Because of the gorgeous view, how the sturdy, amazing, homes lasted for over 700 years, and how it is so preciously preserved by the National Park.” We finished writing, and we looked at a few more rooms in the last cave, and then headed down the ladder to continue our hike down the mountain. I thought that the descent was a bit easier and shorter than the way up. When we got down, we drove over to an area in the park where numerous ancient petroglyphs are still visible. While we were there we worked some more on our Junior Ranger books. The activity this time was to sketch a few of the petroglyphs. This was one of my favorite activities. When we completed the books, we turned them at the desk in the visitor canter to get a CD, a badge, a certificate, and the Junior Ranger Gazette newspaper. Momma, our home-school teacher, would be so proud. It has been a wonderful experience to camp here at (CoR) with my amazing grandparents. --Lucie