We've spent a couple of lovely days in this area. The first day here we met up with our friends Ches and Allison, who we met in Alamos, Mexico. They have been on the road since June and are camping in a small van, looking now to buy property somewhere in this area. It was fun to have dinner together and catch up on what we had each been doing.
On Tuesday we drove north to the amazing Gila Cliff Dwellings. This is the remains of a community built inside natural cliffs about 750 years ago. There are many unknowns about the Mogollon group that lived here. The intriguing question is why they abandoned the place after only a generation. There are many theories, but the most surprising one came from a man we met while touring the site. He goes by the name of “Wizard David” and it seems he makes his living by doing “guided shamanic journeys.” He was there dressed in his amulets with a wealthy woman from Colorado and talked to us about his theory of this place.
Wizard David says this site doesn't match any of the other ruins in the area. He claims that it was settled by extra-terrestrials with wings when their spaceship crashed nearby. He says the T-shaped doors are proof that they flew up into the caves and he points to some unusually cylindrical holes as proof that they had advanced technology. His theory is that they were rescued after 20 years and went by spaceship back to where they came from.
We found his theories a bit far-fetched and felt the place was amazing enough on its own without the need for thoughts of flying ET's. It really is wonderful to see the buildings inside the caves high up in the cliffs and to know that people lived lives there hundreds of years ago. The surrounding country is a stunningly beautiful wilderness area up by the continental divide and and criss-crossed by trails and the Gila River with hot springs here and there.
We camped one night along the Gila River and the dogs had the greatest time swimming in the wide slow-flowing stream. It was perfect for Geordie because there was nobody there so he could go off leash and the river was shallow enough that he could wade far out into the river and get sticks to bring back. He loved it so much that he kept escaping from the motor home and running back to the river. I think that this was the high point of the trip so far for him.
Today we're back at Silver City, getting a couple little details checked on Mohita before we head towards Northern Arizona. Our next destination is the Flagstaff area where we want to visit both Sedona and the Grand Canyon.
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