Cedar Hills Walkabout - Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

 Andrea and I, plus Seamus and Nessie went on this hike on a perfect winter day. The road along the ridge above Foster Canyon continues to deteriorate. Four-wheel drive and high clearance are strongly recommended if you go.
 We drove down off the ridge and parked just above the main arroyo of Foster Canyon. I took everyone through a little canyon on the north side that I explored a year and a half ago. We had our lunch in the narrows where large junipers grow and then continued upstream. We had to cross under a fairly new( all metal green and white posts and yet to rust barbed wire) fence to get up to the divide. We quickly came to the top of a second canyon with very scenic 100 foot sentinel cliffs on either side.
I scouted out if the very steep defile was navigable, and determined that with the dogs, it was not. It may not be without them either, as it  appeared to consist entirely of large boulders and steep drop-offs with nary a level step in between. Still we lingered at its top for awhile, just to admire  the unexpected, but truly impressive  views that were available. Dark Mountain loomed on our right and flat-topped Tonuco Peak stood tall in the distance.

 At first we tried going around on the right side but soon determined that we were liable to be stopped by some cliffs( we were correct as it turned out). So we went down, mostly gradually on the left. At the bottom we took in some good views of the " gate" of cliffs we had enjoyed from the top end and then moved along in the winding little canyon that emerged from it.
 We got out of the stream bottom and began rounding the mountain that was edged with cliffs and punctuated with small towers.

On the back side we were heading for a saddle through the dried grass and widely spaced yuccas when we came upon the steep upper reaches of another ravine that was surrounded by red rock cliffs, interspersed with conical towers.

We had to backtrack rather ford the steep canyon, and then headed on to the next saddle over. On the way we passed by  a rocky ridge, and saw some massive chunks of red jasper lying on the ground. Andrea didn't like the prospect of the steep, rilled hillside that awaited on the other side of this saddle, so we backtracked again, taking the easier way down the ridge we were on down and walked across several small feeder branches and then into Foster Canyon itself and back toward the truck.
This is a very scenic, but overlooked corner of Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument. The poor condition of the road to access it certainly limits the number of visitors, but if you have a vehicle that can make it out there, it's certainly worth your time.