Morning mist lingers in the folds above the Gila River Valley and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in New Mexico.

Surrounded by 560,000 acres of pristine wilderness, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is one of the more challenging National Park Service units to visit in the lower 48 states. Reachable only by narrow, winding mountain roads, its isolation has preserved not only the 700-year-old homes of the Mogollon people, but provides us a look back in time at the rugged natural landscape that sustained them.

The Trail of the Mountain Spirits National Scenic Byway leading to the Cliff Dwellings offers fantastic vistas, and challenging driving. Myriad hair-pin turns, s-curves, and switchbacks, combined with dizzying drop-offs, and very few guard rails make the monument one of the few land-locked sites in the park system to offer Dramamine in its visitor center. The reward for completing the journey includes the rare opportunity to climb into cave interiors and experience pre-historic Cliff Dwelling rooms from the inside.