Outlaw Rock, Faulkner Canyon - Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument

Outlaw Rock

 I first visited Outlaw Rock when  an article about it appeared in New Mexico Magazine. My wife and I drove out to Faulkner Canyon, where finding the " Rock" was pretty easy, but finding where the names of Billy the Kid and his compadres were etched wasn't. We did eventually, and then I didn't think too much about, or bother to visit the Faulkner Canyon area for many years.
 I set out on this trip hoping to find the road that leaves off of Faulkner Canyon to ascend and traverse the mesa on the west side of the Robledos. We used it several times years ago to get us to a reasonable starting point for climbing Robledo Peak. Well, years ago there was an old windmill that was nearby that served to  as a beacon for finding the turn-off. It appears to be gone, or merely laying down in brush now. With the thick green growth of desert willows that line Faulkner, I couldn't see the opening for the the road  either. After I turned around in the mushy sand,  I did catch a glimpse of the road up on a hill, and realized the entrance must be in a little side channel. I would find it the next day, but for the present I was off to do other things.
 First, I decided to walk up the bottom half of the Upper Faulkner Box Canyon (a tributary on the north side). We had hiked down from the top two winters ago and were stopped  by the substantial dry waterfall which is barrier to a continuous walk in the canyon to its mouth. We didn't explore the lower section that day, so I've been wanting to get out there to see it close up, and thought this was my chance. I parked my car just off  of the  section of Faulkner Canyon Road that leaves the arroyo completely to go around Faulkner's own dry waterfall. I began walking upstream admiring some mature hackberry trees as I went. This canyon is wide and the walking was pretty easy in the clear channel of the stream bottom. This is doubly nice as it provided an avenue where getting a visual on a rattler would come well before the arrival of your feet. Slabs of orange volcanic rock form bluffs on the both sides of the canyon, but it did not appear to have any rock art.

 

After a little over half a mile the canyon narrowed  and pools of rainwater appeared and soon I was standing in the dark little recesses below the dry waterfall that stopped our progress. I backtracked  a bit and went up and around to look down on the canyon and saw there was steep passage on the south side that could be used to go around the waterfall.

Now, I headed back, but I wasn't quite satisfied.  I got in the car and drove east and when I saw Outlaw Rock, I parked  and decided to climb it. That was quickly accomplished  via an only slightly sketchy route on the southeast side.  I tested the theory that this prominence on which I stood was useful to outlaws and perhaps Apaches as well for watching the movements of the soldiers at Old Fort Selden. Indeed, I could see the fort's crumbling abode walls several miles in the distance. After coming down, I did a little more wandering on top of some ridges and down in some canyons for 45 minutes or so, and was on bare hilltop when I heard my first thunder of the day. The storms that were  off to the east all morning seemed to be backing to the west now, so I though it best to return to my vehicle.

Looking toward the Robledos

Faulkner Canyon from atop Outlaw Rock

Outlaw Rock

This is an interesting and scenic area, but be forewarned, Faulkner Canyon Road ends at the iron gate. After that you will be driving almost entirely in the sandy, occasionally rocky wash itself.  In dry winter conditions, it can be handled by two wheel drive vehicles with reasonable clearance all the way to the natural weir of gray basalt. In wet conditions, as we have currently, 4 wheel drive is necessary.

North Foster Box- Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument

 I have such a backlog of places I want to go in my head, I'm not always sure where exactly I'm going to hike, I just head out in a direction and see what comes to mind. On Wednesday morning, I ended up on the road ( after passing it once) that goes up on the ridge south of Foster Canyon. I took a little spur road that heads north and downhill, and parked just before the it crossed into Foster Canyon itself.

From there I began my wandering, first up the wash and then off to a red rock ridge on the north side. I looked over to some cliffs and formations  to the northeast,but decided my destination would be a little box canyon further west, that sits almost directly opposite the more well known box canyon we explored a year and a half year ago ( see " Foster Canyon" from January, 2016 in this blog).


 I stayed up high, climbing over a couple of weedy, green hills and then headed down to the open upper end of the canyon.  I walked downstream, clacking my hiking poles on rocks as I went to give the snakes something to rattle about ahead of the arrival of feet and legs.  Unlike the box across the way this one has cliffs and formations of dark gray, not red, rock. It is also much more narrow. Unfortunately, it is much shorter, but it was still the highlight of this outing.
 At one point I noticed an old wooden stake on a low cliff above me.  I thought "mining claim", but didn't investigate any closer.There were several shallow excavations in the cliffs that coincided with it. There were pods and veins of gray chert and white quartz nearby, which could have been the reason for the digging,but I don't know.

Further on the cliffs rose as the canyon deepened. Twisted trunks and roots of junipers wrapped around rocks and as the branches reached for the sun. I spied a couple of pinhole arches in rock towers on the canyon sides. A couple of dry waterfalls were easily descended, and it was wonderfully dark even as we approached the eleventh hour of the day.


 

It was all over a bit too soon. Now, back out in the sun, as I looked down to the bright white ash conglomerate that looks like coarse concrete, I  realized it was going to be nothing but hot from now on. Still, I made  over to the full McCall Reservoir and the eccentric formations of bare rock, turned a sickly yellow by lichen growth, that surround it.



 I hiked back in the heat along the road, much to the consternation of three black cows, who seemed to  think I was after them. I admired the cliffs of red against the green summertime growth, a combination which never gets old, and noticed a larger arch I had not seen before. It was time to leave so I didn't investigate it fully, but I'll be back.

Upper Meander Canyon-Broad Canyon Wilderness,OMDPNM

Bell Top Mountain

 

This was short morning hike to upper end of Meander Canyon, and as with my walk in the lower end this winter, it was much more pleasant to hike along the grassy benches above the canyon than in the stream bottom itself. I started out by parking right off the paved Corralitos Road just before it heads up to higher ground. I walked east,scrambling over the low ridge that divides an upper Silva Canyon tributary from Meander Canyon, I then just went from bench to bench and in out of few ravines on the west side, going higher toward the very head of the canyon.

 I finally made my way over to the east side to check out the boulders over there, and then worked my back in the canyon itself, before heading back to  my vehicle. A kind of small change hike,but it was pleasant to see all the ocotillo fat and green and views up to Bell Top and nearby peaks, and across the desert grassland were wonderful as always.