The rugged, steep-sided canyon is cut by a shallow river, and thickly forested with ponderosa pine, New Mexico juniper, pinon pine, Gambel's oak, Douglas fir, and alligator juniper. At the bank of the river we saw a hummingbird moth hovering around a purple cluster of Beebalm, and there were lizards all over the place, scurrying about and occasionally pausing on sun-baked rocks to do some of those funny lizard-pushups that they do.

At the base of the cliffs, the trail lead up out of the forest in a natural stairway carved out of the mountain itself, then wound up to the caves, which slowly came into view between the foliage as we hiked. And they were a pretty amazing site, looking all prehistoric and stuff way up there on the sheer face of the cliffs.

The trail snaked up and around the very edge of the mountain; it was a precarious hike between a (BIG) rock and a very-very steep place. At some points the trail was barely more than a narrow ledge as it wound closer and closer to the caves... one slip and it woulda been flattened Shade-cakes. Finally, we rounded one last corner and the dwellings came into sight. After taking in the amazing view for a moment, we climbed the wooden ladder at the entrance and disappeared into the cool darkness of the spacious caves...

The cliff dwellings used to consist of forty rooms within five large sandstone cliff caves, built with clay that was gathered from the nearby creek or along the Gila River. The wooden poles sticking out from the structures are support beams called vigas. Painted pictographs still adorn the cave walls, and the enormous stone ceiling is still blackened from the smoke of many years of smoldering fires.