“Riding the Spine of the Gila”

“Riding the Spine of the Gila”
Let’s say Silver City is the tail of the Gila, take SR 15 N, 44 miles, blacktop road, one lane each way to Pinos Alto, after that it's blacktop wide enough for a car and a-half.
You can see the back of the car on numerous curves, you try to peek around each bend for others, you are climbing, switching back & forth, no guard rails. Great Ride!
Jct of SR 15 & 35, you climb again, with great views of the Gila Wilderness area. This is the first designated wilderness in the country. At one point you can see a lush green spot, deep down in the valley. Eden! The Gila River runs 365 days a years, the birthplace of Geronimo.
My plan was to go to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. The earliest ruin is a pit house from about AD 100 to 400, people of this period referred to as Mogollon, grow corn and beans, hunted, gathered wild plants for food. They made plain brown pottery. But most of the Cliff dwellings date back to the late 1200’s. “Cliff Dwellers” refers to Pueblo people who built homes in natural caves. Excellent examples of early homes and lives of Indian culture here.
As I'am about to leave, the Park volunteer, our guide for the ruins, told me about the local Hot Springs, it’s on the map, but I had no local knowledge and I was unsure of my plans for the night. Driving up here with a ¼ tank of gas, 1 beer, not really prepared to be lost.
So I go to the Wilderness Lodge, run by Dean & Jane Bruemmerand, and their 3 sons Joe, Max and Ike. This 100 year lodge it was originally a school house in Hurley, NM. In the 60’s a man named Coy Rasberry single handily dismantled and moved it to Gila Hot Springs. It’s now a rustic bed & breakfast with two stone lined soaking pools. I have been on the road for almost a month, I am staying, the first night I was all alone, reading, soaking and drinking my 1 beer.
The second day, did I say I was staying 2 days now, 6 others arrived, we talked and soaked, it was good to have some prolonged human interaction!
Dean & I, the owner talked a lot, he is also an excellent cook & his son Ike will be someday as well, Dean is a good man, he & Jane home school their kids. They live in a house in the back. They leave the guests alone, totally. Perfect host.
Close to here, is a campground $4 a night with artistic found artwork and hot springs on the riverbank. The locals come up here, soak, play music and get away from life.
Paradise found, Eden!
May 19 & 20, riding the Gila!
54.0 mpg/ 141.1 miles traveled