After leaving the Big Bend area, I drove to the Gila National Forest & Wilderness north of Silver City, NM. This area straddles the Continental Divide and offers free national forest campsites in the mountains and along the Gila River. In addition to diverse mountain ecosystems, the Gila has some Native American cliff dwellings, many trails, and a few hot springs. For these reasons and more, the Gila Wilderness was the first Wilderness Area created by Congress.
The Mogollon people constructed these dwellings in the 14th century. Like many Native American this sites, this place was abandoned prior to the arrival of Anglos. While the dwellings are relatively recent, pictographs and other evidence suggests that other people had been using these caves for over 11,000 years. 
I camped on the Gila River for the first night. The next morning I visited the most extensive system of cliff dwellings in the forest.
The Mogollon people constructed these dwellings in the 14th century. Like many Native American this sites, this place was abandoned prior to the arrival of Anglos. While the dwellings are relatively recent, pictographs and other evidence suggests that other people had been using these caves for over 11,000 years. In the picture below, you can see a two-story dwelling and the divided rooms.
For over an hour, I was the only visitor at the site, and I really enjoyed visiting with the volunteer retiree-ranger who guided me on my tour. Here is an area resembling a kitchen.
Some of the pictographs date back to 10,000 years.
Later, I left my car at the visitors' center and backpacked 8 miles on the Middle Fork Trail into the Gila Wilderness. This trail crosses the Gila River at least 40 times on its way to a semi-developed hot springs quite a ways up into the mountains. Along with 15 or so other backpackers, I camped 1/8 mile downstream from the hot springs. That afternoon I sat in the pool with a family from Midland. After eating dinner, I returned to the springs to find a younger crowd with everyone nude and engaged in entertaining storytelling. I joined and met some great people - some from Seattle, Flagstaff, El Paso...It is one of the best overnight camps I've ever had.
The next morning, I woke early and booked it down the mountain, again following the river. Halfway back to the car, I followed a different trail that took me through a small canyon full of moss and Columbine. I saw two huge elk and a horned toad along the way. Smoke was also visible in the east, and a smoke plane occasionally passed overhead.
I did manage to get a great pic of this busy squirrel when I returned to the car.
The next destination in New Mexico was unplanned, but several people insisted that I visit Santa Fe. I stayed overnight, drank some microbrews, randomly ran into Mr. Cannon (my high school dean), and visited the plaza. This is the beautiful church on the plaza.
In the plaza I met some awesome people and Percy met some cool dogs.
The next morning, I drove north towards Taos. Ten miles or so south of Taos, I drove through the Rio Grande Gorge Recreation Area. It was so beautiful that I had to stay there.
I camped in the gorge beside some friendly white-water raft guides from Amarillo. Before sunset a pack of coyotes attacked something within 1/2 mile of our camp, and then a huge storm rolled in.
The next day I drove 10 minutes into Taos and spent several hours exploring the plaza area. Taos is celebrating the Summer of Love again with the 40 year reunion of 1969. A bunch of sixties artists and musicians are headlining the festival, so even more hippies than usual are making Taos home for the summer. It was fun visiting with the eclectic crowd.
This is the St. Francis of Assisi church in Taos.
I eventually left the Taos area without any definite plan as to where I would stay the next night. I decided to drive through Questa and Red River into the New Mexico high country. This drive is unbelievably beautiful. I enjoyed some great views of Wheeler Peak, and I reminisced about the 4th of July when Will, Kareem, and I climbed to the summit. This isn't actually Wheeler, but you get the idea...
As I descended into the foothills of the southern Rockies, I came upon a picturesque state park, Cimarron Canyon. The campgrounds are on a small trout river and several trout lakes. I set up camp on the banks of a small mountain lake that was teeming with trout. My neighbors for the night, a family from Kansas City, visited with me for quite a while and insisted on feeding me a tasty dinner. We also watched a skunk circle the small lake.
The next day I drove north into Colorado. As I hit the plains, I saw many pronghorns...
...and I was on my way Colorado.
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