The Gila Cliff Dwellings

We left Truth or Consequences in New Mexico this morning and backtracked 10 miles south on I-25 before turning west on NM 152 towards Silver City.

Rather than go directly there, we elected to follow some scenic routes, first turning south on NM 27. Initially we crossed broad flat plains covered in low scrub, but for a few miles found ourselves winding through a range of hills before emptying out onto flat plains on he other side. At the intersection with NM 26 we turned right and headed into the town of Deming, where we stopped for lunch at

Our route then took us north on US 180 for about 20 miles on a gun-barrel straight road. We turned off onto NM 61 that took us past the City of Stones State Park and another hot springs resort in the middle of the desert.

We crossed NM 152 and continued north on NM 35, This was a road that started out through the sleepy little town of Nimbres but soon led into the Gila National Forest. The road started twisting through the stands of pine trees, some huge, that grew everywhere around us. After several weeks of riding straight roads and high speed highways, we are finally back on roads that remind us why we are doing this trip on a motorcycle.

At the end of the road we turned right onto NM 15 to head for the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.  NM 15 is a great road for motorcycling: it crosses a mountain ridge at almost 7500 ft and the climb up and run down the other side follow the profile of the hills, winding back and forth with breathtaking drops and huge views on either side as we rode the crest of the hill..

The view from the top of the climb was spectacular.

The Gila Cliff Dwellings are an amazing place. To reach them involves a hike of a mile, with some steep climbing along the way, but the effort is richly rewarded. The Mogollon people built an city of stone and mud buildings inside a series of caves approximately 700 years ago.

From there we headed directly to Silver City. This meant retracing our path for about 10 miles on NM 15. Rather than turning back down NM 35, the road we came in on, we stayed on NM15. This road climbed steeply up onto a mountain ridge in a series of switchbacks and tight corners. Most of the way the road was a narrow strip of bitumen with no centre markings and lots of blind corners. For a while the road followed the ridge where it was almost straight, before heading down again through more switchbacks and tight turns. Motorcycle heaven!

We arrived at Silver City at 5 pm, found a motel and supermarket, and settled in for the evening.