Gila Cliff Dwelings National Monument

We stayed in the Las Cruces area today so that we could take in a large loop to the west and north of the city.  In total, we rode about 340 miles the highlight of which was traveling through the Gila National Forest and hiking to the cliff dwellings.

The ride into the forest was on Highway 15, a narrow, 2-lane road into the park.  The trip along that route was marked by mature evergreen growth and stunning views.  The road twists and winds through the mountains and is the most scenic of the rides that we have taken so far.  The only issue we had was that the road had recently been chipped and tarred so there was a lot of loose gravel and you had to be very careful in the turns.  The trip back out was very similar along Highway 35 and then a 35 mile stretch of Highway 152 through the national forest.  Highway 152 easily matches the Dragon's Tail for the number of tight turns.  Every curve is a 10, 15 or 20 mph turn and requires your full attention.  By the way they've manipulated speed limits along the road, it's obvious that at some point during the year, they have issues with bikes running the road.  For us however, it was so hot that the tar was coming up out of the pavement and you again had to be very slow and deliberate through the turns.  End result is that it took us a long time to navigate that stretch of road.  It was very frustrating having to traverse it that way.  During the ride, we crossed the continental divide at least once and were as high as 8100 feet above sea level.

Tomorrow we're going to head up to Gallup, NM and stay there overnight before riding into Utah.  On Monday, we'll visit the Four Corners Monument on our way to Monticello, Utah.  If you aren't familiar, Four Corners is where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado all come together.  We'll then spend a couple of days in Utah checking out the sites. 

Until then!