The Gila Indian Caves in Silver City

Silver City, New Mexico, is a small town of 10,000 in the mountains above Lordsburg on Highway 10. It was the destinaion 
my husband and I had chosen as a jumping off place for our visit to the Gila Indian Ruins, 44 miles, even higher into the mountains on a curvy, curvy, road. We parked our trailer, spent the night in Silver City, and set out for the ruins early the next morning. 

A well-stocked visitor center at 7450 feet welcomed guests with a museum full of artifacts and a bookstore offering hundreds of Indian related books for sale to the public, including a 50-cent guide to the ruins. What a bargain; we purchased one.
Another pleasant surprise awaited us; there was no charge to explore the ruins.  Parking just below the cliff, where the dwelling ruins are located, we grabbed our guide book, and started our trek.

According to the book, we were to cross a small foot bridge and follow the trail, marked here and there with numbers painted on rocks. Each painted number corresponded to a numbered paragraph in the guide so we could read the history of, or an interesting fact about, each area as we went along. The first half of the 1-mile tour was pretty level and the path meandered along a clear, sparkling stream with rustic wooden benches located at strategic spots for weary tourists - -like us. Just before the trail began to ascend, the booklet warned that the remainder of the trail was not for everyone. Those with heart problems, asthma, problems walking, etc. were told to look up at the cliffs, take their photographs, and retreat back down the trail.