One of the nation’s more remote park sites, Gila Cliff Dwellings was named a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. From Silver City, four-hour round-trip via a scenic and winding mountainous highway.
Motorcoach tour groups should plan for a full-day trip and bring a picnic lunch. Facilities of a modern Visitor Center, but no lodging or food service, are available in the Monument. Surrounded by Gila National Forest and the Gila Wilderness, the Gila Cliff Dwellings themselves are accessed by a one-mile loop trail, which, although moderately steep and rocky in places, should be accessible to most visitors without physical disabilities.
The reward for those making the effort is an incredible opportunity to explore some 40 rooms built inside five natural caves by ancient Mogollon Puebloan people during the late 13th century.
