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.