The Gila (hee-la) Cliff Dwellings were used as shelter by  humans for thousands of years. In the late 1200s, they were used by the Mogollon peoples, who built homes with property masonry within the natural cave walls.

Think on that for a second.

As many of you know, I majored in medieval history, with a focus on the Scottish Wars of Independence, the ‘Braveheart’ era of the late 1200s. While all of that was going on across the pond, the Native American peoples of the American Southwest were building structures that exist to this day. Like Casa Grande, the Gila Cliff Dwellings have shattered my view of world history.

One of the main reasons I was so eager to visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings is that unlike Montezuma Castle, you can actually go inside the dwellings!

When you arrive at the end of highway 15, you have to turn left for the dwellings. Silly me, I went straight to check out the visitors centre, where I was told I should end with them and their little museum rather than start. Okay, back to my truck I went.

It was a bit more of a drive to get to the trailhead for the dwellings. There, a park ranger gave me the spiel about only bringing water and not touching the walls, as well as giving me a map and info about the trail.

The access fee is $3 (exact change only), that you put in an envelope that you slide into a box, or you can put your info and parks pass number on a card and put that into the box.

It’s about a mile round trip to the dwellings and there is quite a bit of ascent and descent over rough terrain. You need to be moderately fit and nimble to get up there.

The walk takes you through a narrow canyon to a view point where…

… you turn around and, boom, there are the dwellings!

There was a guide at the end of the dwelling who had tons of information. She pointed out glyphs, hand prints, and other bits of interest. One thing that was really interesting is a huge slab of stone that predates the Mogollons that fell from the ceiling. The Mogollons built around it, but you know the stone fell before their time because the underside of it is black with soot and it sits above a grinding stone that you can just barely see underneath it.

To leave the dwelling, you can either go back to the entrance and take the stairs, or you can go down a ladder.

I did the ladder. It wasn’t scary since it was well secured to the cliff face. But the rungs were far apart and slippery, so I took my time.

After I was reunited with my keys and had a small picnic, I went back to the visitors’ centre to view some artifacts and watch a movie. I learned a lot about the history of the region, but there’s a lot of conjecture since looters and raiders didn’t leave a lot behind to tell us the story of this place.

One compelling bit of info is that there are no burial grounds or trash piles around the dwellings. This speaks to them being places of transition and temporary housing, more than being a permanent settlement.

Another interesting fact is that there was no war around this time, or at least no evidence of it. People died young of infection. They ground the corn with stone, stone got in their food and wore down their teeth, their teeth got abscesses and the infections spread. Something like only two out every eighteen people lived to age twenty.

Visiting the Gila Cliff Dwellings takes effort because of the long and difficult drive there, but they are very much worth the detour. I am so glad I was able to visit them!