Rough and Ready Hills- Organ Mountains Desert Peaks NM, State Trust Lands

 I did a little hike here on dreary December afternoon.  A hawk flew from his perch as we reached the top of  a hill. Not much else to report except that the section of the small range that Seamus and I were walking through was grazed down to the nub. This made sense as we were seeing many cattle and their congregating spots the entire time. I'm not sure if they were being restricted to this small area or not, but I suspected these were state land inholdings, and later when looking at the BLM map, this was confirmed.

Aden Lava Flow Wilderness Area - Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument

We did a short hike on the lava flow on a warm and windy winter afternoon. Parking a little south of Aden Crater, we walked on the black basalt for a mile and a half or so, encountering a couple of large collapse features as we went. It was the first time I'd really been on the main part of the flow in many, many years. The sparse grasses, chollas, desert shrubs and the occasional miraculous winter wildflowers that grew in the red dust were all there was to conceal the rock. The destination was  small hole in the flow known as Khulo Cavern. Some of the group descended to the bottom with ropes. A  stranded, small rattlesnake was encountered there and was subsequently evacuated. The photographer of the group and a few others were going to stay past sunset to get photos of the stars from inside the "cavern." We  didn't.
 I would recommend to first time visitors to get well acquainted to the landmarks and their general directions, and research the area well with maps and Google Earth because it is difficult place to keep your bearings and judge distances.

Exploring Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument - Book corrections

 Unfortunately, though we tried to be as diligent as possible, there are several driving directions errors in the book. I will be updating the book tonight. So if you are thinking about purchasing one wait a few days for the new version to go live. If you have already purchased the book, I can send you the following list as an attachment in a email.

                                              CORRECTIONS
Page 51 Map 10- Broad Canyon. Labeled Road is not Barksdale Road. It is county road E006A.

Page 52 Hike 11 – Valles Canyon. Driving directions should read :

Turn left and head north on this paved, but narrow and shoulderless road.

Page 60 Hike 13 - Silva Plateau. Driving directions should read:

. . . turn left onto a nearly hidden dirt road and head west for .25 miles and park.

Page 87 Hike 22 – Apache Flats and Massacre Peak. Driving directions should read:   . . . on the northwest side. Continue  on C001 for 7.5 miles.

Page 89 Hike 23 – Las Uvas Peaks. To reach the Sierra Alta hike follow the directions for the Angostura Arroyo hike, and then continue 1.5 miles further on E005 to the trailhead.

Page 134 Hike 37 Discovery Site Trail, Split Rock Canyon. Driving

directions should read: Drive 2/10 of a mile and turn left onto the dirt easement road for Trackways NM.

Page 138 Hike 38 – Rocotillo Box Canyons. Driving directions should read : Drive 2/10 of a mile and turn left onto the dirt easement road for Trackways NM.

Pages 189, 193 Hikes 52, 53 – Donna’s Lost Cave, Rabbit Ears Canyon. Driving directions should read:  . . . head east on US 70 for approximately 10.5 miles

Page 196 Hike 54 – Modoc Mine plus Organ Needle. Driving directions should read:  . . .  head east on University . . ..

Page 208 Baylor Pass. Driving directions should read:  . . . head east on US 70 for 10.5 miles.