Cave Dwellers near Silver City, NM

Wednesday morning, Jerry and Kathy Millspaugh, their friends Rosalie and Mike, and Ed and I set off for the Cave Dwellings. They're about an hour's drive north of Silver City that takes two hours because of the steep curving roads.

We stopped at a vista to view the clouds hanging in the valleys.

Jerry and Kathy both take great pictures.

I think this alligator juniper bark is just fascinating.

The people who built the cliff dwellings were part of the Mogollon culture. It's hard to imagine that these were built in about 1270.

It was quite a trek up to the caves and I think the reason I made it was because I was so focused and determined to catch up with the tour guide. I boogied up that mountain and did catch up with the guide. There were several groups of people who lived in this area in past centuries but what motivated this one group to break with the tradition of pit houses or surface pueblos to build inside the caves is unknown.

There were about 40 rooms but only 4 that we could go into.

The stonework was remarkable and the deep overhangs provided shelter to preserve it.

The "T" shaped door indicated that this was a public entry. A plain rectangular door was a private entry.From the inside looking out.

All the supports ran horizontally except for this one area. They think this huge stone fell during their construction because....

....it covered the indented area where they ground grains. So, they had some vertical supports here.This narrow ledge with no railing made me very nervous but I wasn't about to miss anything!

Here's where we would have fallen. Ed's down there, less than halfway down.

They certainly had quite a steep walk to go down to the stream for water!