Last week, I talked about the exciting day trips you could take from Elephant Butte Lake State Park. One of them is a free trip to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Park. Though there is no entrance fee, the park will cost you in gas and the time it takes to get there.
This is the twelfth post in our series about New Mexico parks and our fourth about Elephant Butte Lake State Park.
We left about 5am from Elephant Butte Lake State Park to get to the national monument. Google may say it only takes 3 hours, but it takes more like 4 to 4 1/2. You will see signs along the route warning you how many hours the park is ahead and the hours it will be open. That is because the park is only open from 9-4pm and that means you have to LEAVE the monument by 4pm.
There are a few nice lookout sections on this windy road where you can stop and enjoy the view, depending on the time. Because we left so early, we also saw some wildlife along the way.
The actual visitor center at the monument was very small. I am not sure you even need to stop. The ranger there sent us to the Gila Trailhead Center. They have a few items for sale, with bathrooms and rangers that will give you an orientation to the trail, so I would recommend just going to this one.
The Cliff Dwellings Trail is just a one mile loop. However, as you can see from the image above, you climb a lot of stairs. First you cross the stream and walk through a beautiful forest.
You then climb up more in the open until you get to the cliff dwellings. They have a ranger there to describe the culture and answer any questions you may have.
You can go back the way you came back through the forest or you can take the other way back that is completely out in the open. It was still fairly early in the day, so we took the different way back.
Trail to the Past
We also took another nice hike called Trail to the Past. What they do not make clear is that there are two different sections of the trail, both very short. If you go to the right, you will see some well-preserved cave paintings.
When you go to the left, you have a short hike to see another small cliff dwelling and you don’t need to take nearly as many stairs. We enjoyed eating our lunch at the picnic area and then headed back to Elephant Butte after lunch.
However, there were a few more hikes we could have taken. You can read about them here.
As I mentioned on my post about day trips from Elephant Butte Lake, this monument is on the Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway. You can follow those links to find out about the small towns along the route.
Next week, I will share about another park that is off the beaten track, but well worth a visit: Pecos National Historic Park.
I have some exciting news: My podcast, The Rest Stop, launches today! This podcast provides 3 to 5 minute devotions to help you refresh and reconnect with God whether you are at home or on the road.
