Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument — Attraction in Silver City

This was a great place to go on vacation if you like the wilderness Hot Springs and to get far away from civilization. There is no Wi-Fi or mobile data available. You drive 50 miles north of Silver City it takes two hours on some really cool mountain roads going into the Gila wilderness. It is a beautiful drive on Highway 15.

In the valley. There is the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. The Middle Fork of the Gila River with natural Hot Springs very primitive. There are several free Gila National Forest Campgrounds within 5 minutes of everything. The roads are in great condition and paved. There is a little private General Store snack shop with Wi-Fi and souvenirs. There is a small private pay Campground with camping 8 bucks a night and natural Hot Springs hot tubs and I think cabins for rent. And there is a very small RV park nearby and I think there is an emergency gas station at the General Store. These are all very small and non-intrusive businesses out in the middle of nowhere.

The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to be honest with you I enjoyed the garden and trickling stream once inside the National Monument on the way up to the cliff dwellings it's just a little trickling stream with a lot of delicate plants growing along it and beautiful trees and Rising natural rock walls on the way up to the cliff dwellings really special like under Botanical Garden all natural nothing is cultivated or man-made except the path and the bridges are crossed the trickling stream

The cliff dwellings are nice I spent about an hour in them you can go in and there are several rooms and it is very casual and laid-back it is not fantastic but it is special sweet and nice. And there are beautiful views from within the cliff dwellings and it is fun taking photographs inside the cliff dwellings towards the views and the ridges and the pine trees

The cliff dwellings feel more like kind of small caves with big openings it was fun talking to the park ranger about the history of the Mogollon Indians who inhabited the dwellings

I had a really great day I got there the night before and camped out and spent the entire day in the valley a couple hours of the cliff dwellings really enjoyed the little Garden at the base of the cliff dwellings special neat far out

Really enjoyed hiking up the Middle Fork a half a mile to very primitive Hot Springs that had three or four makeshift Rock pools built that were only about 9 in deep but it was private and I was alone yes I wore a bathing suit there are people that go back there and it seems very calm not weird

So had a really great time hiking back the Middle Fork. Really great time at the entrance to the cliff dwellings where the little trickling stream is and there's such wonderful delicate plants growing along it and the cliff dwellings were found that was more like being in a museum I mean it was very natural and they did not mess with it much but it wasn't so much an outdoorsy thing as an educational thing being in the dwellings themselves.

If you like the wilderness and a lot of variety and no big deals but lots of fun interesting little things to do this is a really great place to go you will probably not have any cell phone service or web or Internet or mobile data or anything back there at all unless you go to the General Store gift shop emergency gas station snack shop where they do have Wi-Fi if you are a customer and probably the RV Park and private little pay Campground I am guessing more than likely would have some Wi-Fi access. But nowhere in the National Forest and nowhere in the National Monument is there any cell service of any kind

I was going to stay for a week but I nearby forest fire made me leave due to some smoke in the air the next day so I just left really looking forward to going back someday great place I got tons of pictures if I can figure out how to load them...

I have been a visitor of the Cliff Dwellings since I was12-years-old and today is first time I have ever been disappointed, and it is due to one of the park rangers (the other staff we encountered were very friendly and funny, the trail and the Dwellings themselves were fantastic as always). I brought my two young children with me on their Spring Break. We parked in the designated parking area, my 5-year-old picked up a dead branch that was lying on the ground right next to our vehicle to use as a walking stick on the trail, she immediately made him put it down. When we attempted to cross the initial bridge from the parking area, she would not let us go until she had made sure I understood that my children were not to run, touch or pick up anything-not a huge deal, but she left a group of 7 backpackers waiting in the middle of looking at trail maps to do this. Then, and this was the final straw, we go back to the visitor's center after my 5-year-old had completed his Junior Ranger workbook (in the small picnic area near parking), in which he was asked to identify the sounds he heard around him, one of them was a truck starting it's engine. She had the audacity to tell my 5-year-old that that was not an appropriate response. If you want children to love our National Parks (particularly the Cliff Dwellings), to promote protecting and preserving them, to understand how important they are to our history, then I suggest at least this park ranger needs to be more educated on how to conduct herself around children. The only I gave this an above average rating is that my children absolutely love hiking and they thought they dwellings would be someplace that they would...

The views of the cliff dwellings are well worth the lengthy drive through the Gila National Forrest. The route is 44 miles from Silver City and it takes over an hour due to the curvy winding somewhat narrow roads. You'll pass numerous campsites and some historic sites along the way, including Gila Hot Springs. There are signs along the route guiding you to the Cliff Dwellings National Monument. There is a visitors office that you should stop by before heading to the trail. They offer lots of great information including a video giving you the historic relevance of the dwellings. There is also a small museum with artifacts and a gift shop. They will guide you to the entrance of the trail and can break change or sell you a ticket. Tickets are $5 which is very reasonable. You get further instructions from a park ranger at the foot of the trail. There are also bathrooms and another museum. The trail is 1 mile round trip and the trip up is slightly steep, but well paved with steps and hand rails. There are also benches along the way so you can stop and catch your breath. There is another ranger at the dwellings that can show you around. You can also climb up into the cave and see the inside of the dwellings yourself. I would consider this a must do if your in the area. There are also tons of trails in the area if you want more of a challenge or a longer hike. There are many river crossings at the trail heads closest to the dwellings so bring an extra pair of socks and shoes if you decide to...