Southern New Mexico Explorer: Robledo Mountains Wilderness

Seamus and I went out exploring on Sunday. At first I had wanted to go check out some of the canyons on the east side of the Rio Grande and south of Tonuco Peak. We drove out there but NMSU has all the access roads posted now. I don't mind straying where perhaps I don't belong sometimes, but it seems like they're going to some length to keep people out and maybe for some good reason. I guess if I want to explore those canyons, I'll have to do it from the river side not the highway side. I then thought about hiking to Geronimo's Cave, but I thought I would wait for a friend that's been wanting to do it.
Instead we parked the car just off the levee, and began walking up the completely dry river. It's a wide, wide expanse of sand in this area. I kept seeing fence on the east side so we walked until we didn't see it anymore, and then got up on the west bank. We followed a sandy, winding arroyo and where it stopped, we climbed on top of a small ridge. Before us was one of the large nameless arroyos that flow out of the east side of the Robledo Range just to the south of Robledo Peak. We started walking upstream and soon we were in respectable, steep-walled limestone canyon where the sun wasn't shining and temperatures were significantly cooler. We came upon a lush, almost droopy Juniper, and from then on the hike became boulder hopping and climbing of small drop-offs, all the way until we reached a major dry waterfall. It was not climbable and that was all she wrote. There was a small cave on the south wall in this vicinity. It was hard to tell if there was much to it, and without a human companion, I was reluctant to make the treacherous climb in order to look into it. Still it might warrant a second trip one day. Before going back to the truck we walked down the old road that follows along the river on the west. It could be used to access a slot canyon that I know is a short ways north or even Geronimo's Cave as well, if one doesn't mind a longer walk.