We're currently sitting at a Love's Travel Stop at Santa Rosa, NM which is 120 miles east of Albuquerque on I-40.
I woke to a beautiful sunrise on Lake Lewisville with scissortails, herons, egrets and HUGE fish jumping out of the lake. The oranges, pinks, and yellows against the sky and reflecting off the water were mesmerizing. It helped that we had some clouds to accent the affect.
Most of our day has been spent on the road. Clint's been driving and I've been catching up on the blogs from March when we were in the internet dead zone.
We may stop outside of Albuquerque for a day to do some site-seeing and stretching our legs. We'll see y'all in a couple of weeks.
Showing posts with label NM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NM. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Silver City, NM - Gila National Monument
We woke early this morning and headed for Gila National Monument.
We're parked in a KOA outside of Silver City... and NO TRAINS! The area is mountainous, with green cypress and many naked oak trees on large rolling hills covered with prairie grass. It's a very pretty combination. I'd love to see it in two months with the flowers blooming and all the trees full of leaves. Here's New Mexico's version of "warning falling rock".
Gila National Monument surprised me. The Mogollon's (the pueblo tribe native to this area
and possibly ancestors of the Hopi) made their ho
me in the ash tuft, the same type of land as in the Badlands. Except here, water and vegetation reappeared. We rode over an hour through snow and pines on winding roads. The mountain scenery opened up to the wilderness which is a large caldera that's green with the Gila River. Beautiful. The picture on the right is a distant view of the pueblo you see on the left. They're in the top layer of rock on the left side.
We were able to walk through the ruins, observe the petroglyphs, and learn a little about the culture there.
Not much is known about the short
use of the home. Theories range from a tribe looking for a temporary place with water until the drought ended (about 30-35 years). Others believe the place was for the shaman and those in his/her support role for the tribe's ceremonies. The difference is because this place only houses about 60 people 
and they've recently found another housing structure very nearby that can hold
over 1200 people. The mystery still lies in why they left after only 35 years of use.
These are fossiled corn cobs left by the original Mogollons 700 years ago.
Afterwards we h
iked some more further dow
nstream and played inside a single family's pueblo built into the wall near the river. Very cool. More room than our RV and very well hidden. This is tucked away under huge cliffs in a corner by the river.
A little further down the trail almost looked like where the kids hung out. They had a sliding rock (like the
one my grandsons slid down in Yosemite) and across the path the walls were covered with petroglyphs. These are examples of the more elaborate ones.
We're parked in a KOA outside of Silver City... and NO TRAINS! The area is mountainous, with green cypress and many naked oak trees on large rolling hills covered with prairie grass. It's a very pretty combination. I'd love to see it in two months with the flowers blooming and all the trees full of leaves. Here's New Mexico's version of "warning falling rock". Gila National Monument surprised me. The Mogollon's (the pueblo tribe native to this area
and possibly ancestors of the Hopi) made their ho
me in the ash tuft, the same type of land as in the Badlands. Except here, water and vegetation reappeared. We rode over an hour through snow and pines on winding roads. The mountain scenery opened up to the wilderness which is a large caldera that's green with the Gila River. Beautiful. The picture on the right is a distant view of the pueblo you see on the left. They're in the top layer of rock on the left side.
We were able to walk through the ruins, observe the petroglyphs, and learn a little about the culture there.
Not much is known about the short
use of the home. Theories range from a tribe looking for a temporary place with water until the drought ended (about 30-35 years). Others believe the place was for the shaman and those in his/her support role for the tribe's ceremonies. The difference is because this place only houses about 60 people 
and they've recently found another housing structure very nearby that can hold
over 1200 people. The mystery still lies in why they left after only 35 years of use.These are fossiled corn cobs left by the original Mogollons 700 years ago.
Afterwards we h
iked some more further dow
nstream and played inside a single family's pueblo built into the wall near the river. Very cool. More room than our RV and very well hidden. This is tucked away under huge cliffs in a corner by the river.
A little further down the trail almost looked like where the kids hung out. They had a sliding rock (like the
one my grandsons slid down in Yosemite) and across the path the walls were covered with petroglyphs. These are examples of the more elaborate ones.
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