Coyote Canyon Upstream- Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument

                           

 I had wanted to drive out to the large cattle tank/ reservoir at the confluence between Silva and Coyote Canyons. That surrounding area has seemed ripe to me to explore for evidence of past peoples. Unfortunately the road gave out close to two miles before getting there. I might've made  it through the washed out section if I had had someone with me with another vehicle, but the thought of getting stuck in the sand out there on an August morning when the temperatures were expected to reach 100 degrees seemed more than a bit foolhardy.
 So I got out and walked. Near where I had parked, there was large ( 20-30 foot high) earthen dam on Coyote Canyon. The water behind it had evaporated or leaked out, leaving behind a carpet of weeds growing in gooey black mud. Below the dam the arroyo  was a river of tall grasses. It surely had rained out here to bring out the summer growth and green up this valley between the Rough and Ready Hills and the Uvas Mountains.


 I walked along between the road and the bank of the arroyo, always keeping my eyes to the ground for pottery, chert flakes or manos ( and or metates). It's also just generally a good idea  to watch the ground during rattlesnake season, so it all worked out. At a confluence I worked my way down toward Coyote Canyon itself to investigate some cliffs. I passed a chunk of what had been a large  rattler as I went, perhaps the victim of some large bird.
The cliffs were of a loose, rough conglomerate completely wrong for petroglyphs, and their alcoves were small, too small to be of any use to humans. Now, I walked on the white gravel in the tunnel of tall grasses toward another set of cliffs.

Nothing much doing there either, so I climbed up the steep slope and saw the reservoir that was supposed to have been my original destination.
It was already too late in the day to investigate the surrounding area, so I began heading back. Mostly it's quiet in the desert, but in the summer when the water has arrived,  birds, grasshoppers, black bees, and flies add a little music. I like it. My return walk to the car was mostly on the road. I had gone a little farther than I had intended and now it was really quite hot. I made it back no worse for wear and tear though and then drove myself back to the city.
 A couple of days later I went out on similar mission in the Doña Ana Mountains walking around an area adjacent to where I had found some pottery a couple of years ago. It always brightens my day to see this little mountain range up close.  It was doubly nice because this area was greened up too. I searched the cliffs and boulders. I searched the slopes and flatlands too.  I didn't find anything but it was nice.

NOTE: the roads in both these areas have gotten pretty bad. I was using four wheel drive.