A blog about exploring the natural areas of New Mexico focusing on but not limited to Dona Ana, Luna, Otero, Sierra, Grant, Lincoln,Socorro and Catron counties.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Tres Hermanas
I've been to the Tres Hermanas Mountains south of Deming a couple of times, back in the late nineties and early 2000's, mostly just to poke around the old mines on the west side of the range, but one time we climbed one of the smaller satellite peaks( not one of the "three sisters"). There is pretty good dirt road that takes off from NM 11 right where it turns to east ( if you're headed south). At one point it passes through a corral area, which felt like we were entering private property, but I'm pretty sure it isn't.The group of mines and prospects here are called "Mahoney Mines" on the topo map. There are a lot of holes in the ground here. There's also lots of strange looking waste rock. We've collected a few specimens for landscaping. Jeep trails and old roads wind around the narrow passages between the steep peaks and other little mines and prospects are everywhere. None of them look like they ever made anybody rich. I would like to do more exploring here, but it's a little too far from home for day trips with the price of gas the way it is. One destination that has me intrigued is a spurrite desposit and nearby cave with fluorescent minerals (Tres Hermanas Cave, I believe) on South Sister Peak. One time I tried to find the dirt road to it from NM 11 and it looked liked a pretty straight shot to the South Peak, but in the days before having a GPS, I wasn't sure I'd found it. Even today with GPS points I've still have ended up on the wrong set of tracks in the desert.In New Mexico it seems there are always more roads than on the topo map. Well, maybe next time I'm camping at Rockhound, the Tres Hermanas or the Mahoney Park area of the Floridas would be good for a day hike.
Love las tres hermanas
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