A Window to the Past -
Explore ancient cliff dwellings. Become inspired by the remaining architecture. Discover your national heritage! One of the more remote NPS national monuments in the Southwest, Gila Cliff Dwellings lies deep in the mountains of the Gila National Forest, surrounded on all sides by wilderness areas, over an hour's drive from the nearest town on steep, winding roads, and situated well away from main cross-state routes in New Mexico. The monument is a small site of just 553 acres, containing the ruins of interlinked cave dwellings built in five cliff alcoves by the Mogollon peoples between 1275 and 1300 CE, reached today by an easy one mile loop trail along a narrow canyon. So the time needed to tour the caves is rather less than the time spent driving to them, though the journey across the steep, forested hills and valleys is part of the attraction of the ruins, as is their out-of-the-way location. The nearby area has plenty of other features of interest including hot springs, more ancient sites, national forest trails and fishing along the Gila River.