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.
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| Rio Grande |
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| Cave? |
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