Organ Mountain Desert Peaks National Monument - Sleeping Lady Hills

 

The morning after our first real downpour of the monsoon, was cloudy, cool and the first day in weeks it seemed okay to get out in the desert for a few hours. It was humid for sure, but bearable. Instead of being hot and not sweating, I was sweating but not feeling hot. I roamed around on detached ridge that lies southwest of the main body of the range, and southeast of its only named peak, Reichey Butte.

 It was pretty easy walking on soft ground as I made my way further and further to the southwest terminus and the highest point of the mile long ridge which rises a modest 250 feet above the desert floor. I scanned  boulders and cliffy outcrops for rock art. Did plenty of gravel gazing too in hopes of  seeing an artifact or two.Nothing to report. Returned through a little valley that headed northwest back to my vehicle. Cattle ran at my approach, but one lizard stayed perfectly still. A small stand of ocotillo had done their rapid transition to green trick. I kept it short, under three miles.

Two drawbacks: the never ending gunfire at the Butterfield Shooting Range and the thick adobe mud that stuck to my wheel wells like cement. I went to carwash the next day. I always feel guilty about abusing the " NO HEAVY MUD WASHING" signs that every single facility in Las Cruces posts, then I saw the chunks of mud in every single bay, and thought, it's probably not a reasonable expectation for Las Cruces.

Lincoln National Forest - Courtney Mine Trail (FT 132)

This hike fit the bill for a chance to get out with friends David and Nancy before they continued on to their property in Mayhill, similar to what we had done back in May when visiting South San Andres Canyon.

 I've passed by the Courtney Mine Trail (FT 132) many times over the years on my way to other hikes further south on the West Side Road (FR 90), and since my friends were limited on time, the shorter driving distance (it's only 3 miles from US 82), and the short trail (about 4 miles round trip), this one made the most sense.

 It was damp, overcast and cool when we started, perfect for the 300 foot climb to the ridgeline. The wide trail follows an old fence line, where the barbed wire has been removed, but the posts still remain, through scruffy piñons and junipers. At the top views open up down into lower Karr Canyon with its houses and irrigated fields, and over to the forested hills of the Sacramento Rim.

We descended slightly more gradually than the ascent, with the trail a bit more trail-like in contrast to the straight shot up the west side. There were small oaks, white and ponderosa pines, and where the trail began level out a bit, an, amazing, gigantic hardwood ( broadleaf) tree, which I think could have been a cherry (or chokecherry). I couldn't get a good look at its live leaves that were all up high. It was not a maple or one of the usual oaks. It may have been an ash, or perhaps some non-native species escaped from cultivation from the farms and residential areas nearby. I really don't know. I may have to re-visit in fall. If anyone out there has an idea please let me know.UPDATE (7/31/22): I climbed up one of the branches to snag a leaf. It is a black cherry.

Further on was an open area where the fenced in Goat Ranch Spring is located. We could hear the water running in its concrete box, but nothing was filling a nearby trough, and there was no flow on the surface.

Nearby was another enormous tree, this one a ponderosa pine.

 We hiked a bit further where to where the trail became more like a road as it crossed a drainage. I thought we were at Karr Canyon, and began looking for the trail to turn to the south.  I found out later it was just a side canyon (tributary to Karr). My friends were running short on time so we turned around. The 400 foot climb of the east side was a bit of a lung buster, and the sun finally emerged just to add to the fun.

We parted ways, and then I decided to drive over to Karr Canyon to find the rest of the trail. I parked at the signed trail head and began a fast walk (without backpack) down the shady path which paralleled Forest Road 63. There was one large clearing early on, where an older couple sat  sweetly in lawn chairs listening to music (at a reasonable volume), just enjoying being cool beneath the trees. As I motored on with maple  and oak trees forming the trail canopy, I began to despair a little of how far it would be until I reached the point of the hike where we had turned around earlier, and that the trail was on a consistent downhill grade which meant all uphill on the way back. Soon after, the trail turned into an old road and now went uphill as it curved to the west.  At last, I was at the earlier stopping point, and now had completed the trail.

Huge black cherry tree

Very large pine near the spring

Potrillo Mountains Wilderness - Sue Ann Canyon, Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument

The last day of June is not the time to be visiting the Potrillo Mountains Wilderness. But, we did. It wasn't too bad as it turns out. Temps were only in the 80s, humidity was low  and there was a nice breeze blowing for most of the morning.
Getting to the start near Sue Ann Tank  was more of an adventure than the hike. The last leg of the most direct route was on a " road" that barely exists anymore. This seems to be getting to regular feature of my exploring this year. but this time I was glad to have friend David ( in his own truck) along for the trip to help navigate  with On-X .  It's always best to have a friend with you when the going gets doubtful.
 I'd been wanting to explore this canyon since we visited the West Tub Arroyos and the Potrillo Highpoint four years ago. Looking down from its upper most branch on the northeast slope of the Highpoint on that windy January day, I got the notion to look at this arroyo, certainly one of the largest coming out of east side of the range.
There's enough subsurface water here to support large hackberries, desert willows, a thick growth of skunkbush  and even a few struggling soapberries along the banks. On the benches and hills above, it's much more sparse, with widely spaced cholla and mesquite mixed in with the grasses, weeds and creosote.  As it snakes through the cinder cones, the canyon sports 25 foot cliffs of basalt in its deepest sections.





 We saw deer, roadrunners, lizards, hawks, vultures, barn owls and heard what must've been javelina rustling in the brush. Even in this heat, you will see wildlife in the remote Potrillos. We walked  a mostly easy 5 or 6 miles, at times in the thick gravels of the arroyo, then on the lava and cinders,  and mercifully on the windblown sand as well.
The driest time of the years, as well as the hottest time of year is not optimal for scenery here, especially with the vast amount of dried wildflower and weed vegetation from the Spring. I can imagine a hike after a good monsoon, perhaps a cooler day in October, before things dry out again as the best.  Early Spring if there is wildflowers ( like there was this year ), or Winter  would both be good too.

Magdalena Ridge, Gap - Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument

 

 I've done these hikes over the past few weeks on the rare days we've had highs that were only in the low nineties or upper eighties. Magdalena Ridge is a long, lower elevation mesa that extends arm-like to the southwest from from the highest peaks at the core of the Sierra de las Uvas.
 Long valleys penetrate the mesa, aligned with both the long and short dimensions, so that when viewed from  air the entire ridge looks like a jellyfish or some other dendritic coral reef dwelling creature.
 Rocky cliffs rim most of the mesa, and many a large boulder has tumbled down into the lowlands as well. Both are ripe for exploring for rock art, and I've been doing quite a bit in this area starting back in the spring and continuing  this summer. I explored this area many years ago in the days before Google Earth looking for and eventually finding the petroglyph sites in Apache Flats, with only those two words to go on.
 Magdalena Gap ( which isn't really much of break in the mesa) was where the Butterfield Stage Trail steeply continued through the mountains.   On the last of the three hikes, I realized there is much gentler pass just to south, which really has me puzzled now as to why they chose this route.There is a lovely, semi- circular hidden valley on the east side of the Gap which was very scenic, even in June, but would be better enjoyed sometime between November and March.

 Walking up on top, or down low,  the views, though not spectacular, both near and into the distance, pleased me.



 On the first two of these three trips I couldn't see the faint smoke around Sugarloaf Peak from the Uvas Fire, the persistent wind dissipating it and pushing it on to the east.

For my trouble, my hours in the desert yielded: Coyotes trotting away silently from their resting place at my approach; pronghorn dashing across the flats; a perfect projectile point;  a circle of rocks of unknown purpose( perhaps a survey marker) and a pile of fire- cracked rocks ( I knew I was looking at something done by humans, not naturally occurring, I just didn't know what until doing some research back at home); a small, lonely petroglyph, greening up sotol, ever present lizards and plans for future trips.