Selden Hills- Four More Canyons and Corn Cave

 At this point I've been in and out, and more often exploring significant portions of, the dozen or so canyons of size (plus a few smaller ones) that flow to the Rio Grande through the Selden Hills. Most run about a mile long or so with the only two named canyons, Lytten and Buckle Bar running a mile and a half and  two miles respectively. I've found petroglyphs in  several sites in three different canyons, and also two pottery sites close to the river, so finding more of the same has been my main motivator for continuing my investigations, but now I think I've pretty much covered all the ground I want to cover out here.

 This trip ran about 7 miles, and I was really moving to get to all the spots I wanted to see: the four bigger canyons southeast of Buckle Bar and just northwest of the two I hiked in about a month ago. I crossed the river at Buckle Bar where there are some convenient rocks for hopping across and then headed downstream along the railroad tracks. I was little put off at the amount of trash left behind whenever there has been some work project on the tracks. How hard would it be to have a bag for collecting garbage? Perhaps worse still, I've noticed that the railroad just pushed old rails off into the brush, and removed ties are just left to rot in piles.

 I eventually climbed up a hill and then down into my first boulder strewn canyon.

Then it was up onto a bluff and down into a much larger canyon. Next was very narrow a little wonder that got a little slotty for a short section, after which I climbed out onto a ridge, and realized I still had two more small canyons and ridges to cross before reaching my destination canyon.

 Happily, it was the most scenic and even boasted a cave big enough shelter several humans, or given the deer parts that lay in the dirt, one hungry mountain lion. There was some rusty cans (one still sitting upright)  perhaps just as they were left for however many years it takes metal cans to rust in the shelter of a cave in the desert.

Corn Cave

20th century trash

The loose dirt and the predator scat were thick on the floor of the cave, but above it boasted an odd    "moonroof " arch at its opening. UPDATE: 1/31/21 Escaping my notice somehow two years ago were two pictographs on the arch itself. We also found pottery sherds, lithic debitage (which I overlooked as well) and recent litter that wasn't there in 2019 on this later trip. 

Large pottery sherd

 Pictographs in red

                                        

 Before leaving I noticed a corncob that had been dredged up and I pondered the several different stories of how and when it might have arrived at its present location.

 You can do the same if you want.

 Note: this hike was almost entirely on NMSU's Chihuahuan Desert  Rangeland Research Center, where  entry without permission may be considered trespassing.

Canyon Loop Trail, Robledo mini-walkabout- Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

Only managed a three short hikes this past two weekends. One I already covered was to Chavez Cave.  The first one was on the Canyon Loop Trail on the south side of Picacho Peak. It's a scenic little canyon with some nice cliffs and dry falls. It doesn't look like it gets a lot of traffic because most people just head up the trail to the top of Picacho Peak. We saw rabbits and the dogs pulled me up a hillside when they caught site of four deer.  I'm always impressed how the whole Picacho Peak/Box Canyon area is nicer than I remember each time I revisit. I guess it's under appreciated by me due to its being so close to town and therefore a little over utilized for my taste.
 The last of three hikes was on this past Sunday to little area nearby between some headwater branches of Spring Canyon and Apache Canyon. Seamus and I walked around a little hill that when viewed on Google Earth looks like a bagel or donut.  Not much to report. Nice mollusk fossils in the limestone bedrock. The backs of javelina as they trotted through the pale grass in the streambed. A coyote on the ridge above us. Blue skies. Sun. Then the wind began and we headed back.

Organ Mountains- Desert Peaks National Monument - Chavez Cave

Chavez Cave

Cupules, grinding mortars inside Chavez Cave

When I visited Chavez Cave in 2019 (when these photos were taken) the gate at the very end of Rocky Acres Trail was unlocked and open, so we just drove on, using the road that continues on the west side of the river and parked a little ways past the ravine where the cave is and just marched on up using an older road and then a use trail along the arroyo itself. A few years later the gate was locked, and I had been told by reliable sources that the resident of the last house before the gate was being hyper-vigilant trying, and succeeding in some cases, in keeping people from the visiting the cave. I'm not sure if this is still true with whoever the current resident is, but I certainly understand their stress over the situation as the cave (as with many caves) attracts partying by the sort of individuals who like to have fires, leave trash and paint graffiti (sort of the opposite of the leave no trace ethos). If you visit, park down off the east side levee road just before the locked gate and then walk at least 1/2 mile northwest (using the road or one of the trails on the bank) before crossing the river bed to access the cave.  The cave is definitely on BLM land and within Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. It is up to you whether you think it is alright to use the lands on the banks of the Rio Grande (which are not public) to get there. It can be accessed from the west scrambling down the very treacherous terrain upstream of the cave as well, which would circumnavigate that problem, but that's a whole other story. If you run into trouble with access and use this blog, please let me know.