Organ Mountains Wilderness, Organ Mountains Desert Peaks-National Monument - Peña Blanca Towers (The Garden)

Back in January, after not having visited the area in several years, I led the LCPS Wellness hike to Peña Blanca.  As we turned to  head back to our vehicles on that day, I found myself, as I frequently do, already planning my return to explore the area further. On Monday (3/16/20) afternoon, I did get back out there, with a plan visit an area I'm calling the Peña Blanca  Towers  located at the northernmost limit of the light colored tuff rocks for which the area in named.
   As I started I was happy to see acres of poppies on the bajada. I followed the Sierra Vista trail at times,  but went cross-country  frequently to keep the straightest bearing possible towards my destination ( both the trail and the old road wander around considerably).  The first mile or so, as usual, is a bit of a trudge across less that scintillating flatlands with  typically sparse  desert vegetation. Smiles were quick in coming though, upon arriving at the first poppies. On this intensely sunny day, the yellow and orange flowers seemed to be giving off their own light, and you could almost hear the hum of their electricity.





 I continued through,  back to the area that was our turnaround point in January, the very head of a small arroyo where I had speculated a  seep must  account for the growth of large hackberry trees and a thicket of willows. Sure enough, due to all the February and March precipitation we've had, it did have a trickle, flowing down off of the billowing formations of yellow rhyolite.

I thought I would find  a lot more pottery if I were to give the area a more thorough search,  after finding a couple of sherds, without really looking at all, when last here. Only few more pieces were discovered, but  I did notice that the area had many gravel and dirt mounds that seemed decidedly unnatural. I speculated on several explanations: some small time placer mining, archaeological digging, or even perhaps prehistoric dwellings. When I went down to the creek bed I saw two very black, very large javelinas take off downstream.  I moved on, around the rib of rock and quickly spotted a crumbling old dam. Actually it was two dams, one of rock and  a second of concrete  built closely behind it. Water was trickling down the rocks here as well.



 Past the dams,  arriving at the base of the tower formations, I hit on a trail of sorts and began seeing a few more fragments of pottery as I climbed. As if they were leading on, I came upon a  kind of cave formed by large boulders that was certainly large enough for shelter, and within its confines an excavation pit at least seven or eight feet deep.
 I kept on the trail going up and found two more dug out ( by humans) holes, one that had timbers in it. Various explanations once again popped into my mind.   They could be from archaeological or  paleontological digging whether professional from more  recent times, or amateur from the early 20th century. They could've also been made pot  or fossil hunters.

 Now as I followed the wildlife trail  up in the loose clinking gravel with the towers of pinkish gray stone right before me, I realized it was just too steep to efficiently continue. I moved over from the south side of the row of towers to the north side where walking was still steep, but much easier on the solid bedrock. Erosion has carved out  alcoves, pillars, recesses and holes in a narrow, band of rock with some of towers reaching 50 or more feet high.







It was reminiscent of City of Rocks State Park and would be a fun place to play for kids of all ages as well, were it not for the fact that it is tilted at a very steep angle, so much so, that as I walked upward  even with excellent traction on the rough bedrock, I had the uneasy feeling that a stumble could start a fall that wouldn't stop until  I was caught in the brush of the canyon hundreds of feet below. Probably not true, but I proceeded very cautiously, nonetheless, and knew this place would not be suitable to those who get vertigo or have a fear of heights.


 Where the formations play out, only about a quarter mile horizontally and  about 300 feet up the hill, I rested, drank water and decided to go down on the south( gravelly) side of the towers. There was the wildlife trail again to use and I made my way down slowly but safely. I explored the dam area a bit afterwards, but then I was off toward my truck again. It was hot, nearly 80, as turns out. My arms would get a burn, but I was glad I wore my sombrero so that may neck didn't too.