Slot Canyon- Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument

There is no Broad Canyon Ranch State Park yet . I volunteered there a couple of years ago pulling out the old barbed wire fencing. There has also been a willow planting project and that's about it. It still just looks like an abandoned ranch along the Rio Grande. The gate  is  closed and locked. This little hike is on west side of NM 185 in the vicinity of Broad Canyon.  That's all I'll say. If you use Google Earth, you'll be able spot the slot canyon pretty easily  and know how to proceed. I didn't really know where it was, and had intended to go on the Southwest Environmental Center's Back Before Noon hike to the canyon a couple of weeks ago. I was renting a place near Humboldt Mountain( see blog) doing the Allie Canyon hike( see blog) instead. The hardest part of this little hike is climbing the gate. The slot canyon section of this nameless arroyo is pretty short- less than 1/2 mile I would say, but it is a true slot- something we don't really have that many of down in the southern half of the state.
   I would estimate its maximum depth is somewhere between 65 and 80 feet, and its minimum width is between 3 and 4 feet. It was very dark in the middle sections even at high noon. It was a blast walking the sinuous, meandering path. We saw a large raptor nest in one of the many alcoves above us.   There were millions of large (2 inches plus!)dead grasshoppers in the sandy bottom providing a rather pungent smell, which was only mildly unpleasant.We kept craning our necks looking up at the winding crack of blue sky. The walls were rough waves of rusty conglomerate. Emerging on the west side, we explored the upper regions of the large, wide arroyo which funnels into and has carved the slot. Our dogs chased a jackrabbit. We soaked up the sun before heading back into the cool, cavernous watercourse. A beautiful desert day.