Gila Hot Springs

After a few hikes, what could be better than a nice soak in naturally-occurring hot springs? The caretaker of these hot springs is a very interesting guy (How could he not be after living in a remote, isolated area for 20 years?) He created all of the wood structures and reminders: U R HERE. He told me that he is living his dream, his "original childhood dream before anyone had a chance to inject their own stuff into it. I lived that way, for others, for a long time and finally escaped it here." Jim also had lots of ideas about the functions of the Gila Cliff Dwellings, noting that traditional archeological explanations fall short-- he does not believe that people "dwelled" in the caves, rather that "it only makes sense as a socio-religious phenomenon."