Lower Scorpion, Gila Cliff Dwellings, NM

The ranger at the cliff dwellings told us where we could find some more pictographs, so that’s where we went next.

At the Lower Scorpion Campground, there is a small sign titled “Trail To The Past”.  The very short right arm of this trail leads to a large rock outcropping.  These rocks are covered in pictographs.  These pictographs were created by the Mogollon people at about the same time as the cliff dwellings using hematite as the paint.  

The individual pictographs are really interesting, and it’s fun to try and guess what they were supposed to be.

This one looks like a cross between a donkey and an elephant.

The left arm of the trail is a little longer, probably about 1/4 mile, and leads to some small cliff dwelling ruins.  They are nothing like the big dwellings, but still interesting.

The ranger also told us about some other smaller pictographs that are a little harder to find.  After leaving Lower Scorpion Campground, heading out of the park, cross the first cattle guard and park on the right side of the road.  Walk back across the cattle guard and across the street is a big rock.  Down near the bottom of the big rock are more pictographs.

This was a very fun and interesting place.  We couldn’t do much hiking this trip because the Gila River was running too hard, and most of the trails cross the river, but that’s OK, now we’ve saved something for next time.