Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Florida Mountains - BLM and State Lands

Baldy Peak in center

        


So, I've also been trying to make it out to the Floridas or Little Floridas at least once a year as well. Truly, if they were a just a little bit closer to home, I'd be out there all the time. Second only to our own Organ Mountains here in Las Cruces as beautiful desert ranges go, it's amazing to me that the main Floridas seem to be a place known for hunting Persian Ibex and not much else. Spring Canyon, which is part of Rockhound Stat Park does receive a decent amount of visitors and people use Windmill Canyon occasionally to climb to Florida Peak, the range's highpoint, but there are many areas of both State and BLM lands that probably see very few, if any people. I speculate the main reasons for the dearth of visitors lie in  the facts that the access to many areas is not only rough but confusing ( above mentioned Spring Canyon being the exception with a nice paved road all the way to the parking area) and that there are no well established human engineered trails ( Lover's Leap Canyon, a well trod use trail also starting from Spring Canyon perhaps the only exception).   Other  use, livestock and wildlife trails are unreliable, and when the terrain gets steep, rocky or both, they are non-existent. The crazy Mahoney Park road will get you to a high ridge with access to Baldy and Gym Peaks, but it presents its own set of problem with  truly daunting driving conditions, or a very long hike with considerable elevation gain if you decide to go it on foot.

 I parked at the first closed ( but not locked) gate on the Mahoney Park road and I'm glad I did because there is section a little less than 1 1/2 miles in that is lumpy ( as well as steep) in the extreme. I have confidence in my Tacoma's 4WD, but I really don't think I had the clearance needed. I started following the fence line south, and then southeast. I'm pretty sure, if you stick to this route, you will stay on State and BLM land avoiding a couple of private inholdings. There was not only a cattle trail this way, but I kept seeing lines of rocks across the path, as if someone had tried to establish a hiking trail here at one time. I kept my pace up, but eventually was slowed down by the many crossings of arroyos and ravines. 

rocks marking an old path
flood-lain deposits
Line of boulders

I also began stopping to snap off many photos of the pinnacles and towers of the ridge to the west. There may have even been a natural arch on the slopes of the 7000 foot plus un-named peak that is about a mile to the northeast of South Peak.

 I finally arrived at the road that comes off of east side of the Mahoney Park road and began marching up to the old and currently defunct iron water tank. 

Non-functioning drinker

From that point on there was only the faintest of trails to  follow as I made my way up the narrow canyon. As the evergreen oak trees increased, so did the boulders, so the hike became about half scrambling  and half following the wildlife trail on the slightest of benches on either side of the stream course. I made it past the rock towers where canyon was its tightest, and then rested near a large ( but alas dying) alligator juniper and some wildly branching but very bushy and healthy looking piñons.

Bushwhacking this canyon was a little tough

 I continued climbing up over some lower dry waterfalls in the bedrock.  I had been hoping to find a trickle of water, but there was nothing but some hopeful flies. At least there was chitter-chatter of springtime birds, if not the babble of a brook.The canyon began to widen the higher I went. The shady oaks and piñons thinned and as I came upon the site of several larger, but dead alligator junipers in the hot sun, I decided it was time to turn around. I believe at some point I crossed over from state lands onto the BLM's Florida Mountains Wilderness Study Area.

                                                                                                                              
 I made up my mind earlier to make the hike a loop by using the Mahoney Park road to return to my vehicle. The road passes through the private inholding for a little over a mile. It's not posted, except at a corral and windmill, but please stay on the road and be respectful if you go.  I looked up to the white top of Baldy Peak towering to the east, and scanned the cliffs for glimpse of an ibex, as I always do when I'm out in the two Florida ranges, but didn't see one.
 Mahoney Park Road looking south
                  
Stone wall along the road




There is the ruin of a very stout stone structure along the way. What it was, I don't know. Let me know if you do. It makes for some great pictures anyway. Using the road was longer in distance, but easier on the legs and feet than my original way out.  Because of the lack of route finding, it probably took about the same amount of time. Total mileage for the loop was close to seven.

NOTE: I believe the small isolated peak about a half mile southeast from where I parked is the site of a proposed magnesium mine that is causing quite a bit of controversy in the nearby subdivisions and in the town of Deming. I thought about my several hours of absolute quiet, with the cows, birds and rabbits and how devastating the noise of a round the clock mining operation would be to this beautiful area. I know mines have to be somewhere, but it would be damn shame if it were here.                                                    

Proposed mountain to be mined on the right

 a magnesium mine will certainly alter this view

                                         

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7 Comments:

Anonymous Terry Jensen said...

I have spent many hours mountain biking and hiking in the Floridas. The solitude,peace and quiet is humbling, and found it sad that so many New Mexicans are not taking the time to enjoy these mountains. Nonetheless, there is a bigger picture. You tossed under the proverbial bus the possible magnesium mine. To begin with the mine will be a hill top quarry located in the alluvial fan outside of the mountains so please get your story straight. It is very doubtful if the quarry will operate 24/7. I suspect a single 10 hour shift. The quarrying process over time will establish a high wall, basically a sound buffer isolating the quarry from the mountains. This quarry along with the mill will create >500 jobs for the next 30 years, improve the standard of living, the tax base and improve the school systems and roads. For the record, Luna County is the 9th poorest county (out of 3148 counties) in the United States. That statistic for the good people of Luna County and Deming is truly tragic. The quarry and mill would be a game changer for that community. In addition, the quarry is on BLM land subject to the NEPA process and the record of decision from the NEPA EA/EISs indicated no significant impact. Finally the road to the quarry would be improved so more New Mexicans could hike into the interior and enjoy the solitude that you described. So kindly please do not be like so many so called "environmentalist" who want to create private parks for their self serving desires. Please do your home work, see the bigger picture, do not be mindlessly anti-mining and recognize we have the regulations to protect and preserve our environment and still allow economic development.

April 17, 2023 at 11:18 AM  
Anonymous Terry Jensen said...

I have spent many hours mountain biking and hiking in the Floridas. The solitude,peace and quiet is humbling, and found it sad that so many New Mexicans are not taking the time to enjoy these mountains. Nonetheless, there is a bigger picture. You tossed under the proverbial bus the possible magnesium mine. To begin with the mine will be a hill top quarry located in the alluvial fan outside of the mountains so please get your story straight. It is very doubtful if the quarry will operate 24/7. I suspect a single 10 hour shift. The quarrying process over time will establish a high wall, basically a sound buffer isolating the quarry from the mountains. This quarry along with the mill will create >500 jobs for the next 30 years, improve the standard of lining, the tax base and improve the school systems and roads. For the record, Luna County is the 9th poorest county (out of 3148 counties) in the United States. That statistic for Luna County and Deming is truly tragic. The quarry and mill would be a game changer for that community. In addition, the quarry is on BLM land subject to the NEPA process and the record of decision from the EA/EISs indicated no significant impact. Finally the road to the quarry would be improved so more New Mexicans could hike into the interior the solitude that you described. So kindly please do your home work and not just be anti-mining.

April 17, 2023 at 11:20 AM  
Blogger Devon Fletcher said...

Out of curiosity I'm going to leave your comments up for a time just to see if they generate any further response. You, however should do your homework. If you were to read a decent size sampling of this blog, you would understand that it is to describe my experiences of natural places in New Mexico and hopefully inspire others to go out and experience these places for themselves. If I occasionally comment on some aspect that detracts (or will detract) from my enjoyment of the place (livestock overuse, littering, ORV abuse, invasive plants, mining etc.) I will say so and that is as far as it goes. Whether or not this mine will be an overall "good" for the good people of Deming and Luna county really does not figure in to the thrust of my comments. I'm pretty sure that few would argue that this mine will enhance anyone's enjoyment of the Florida Mountains as a natural place. The focus of this blog, obvious to most, is not really about whether I am for or against this mine, I didn't really feel the need to go into any long explanation regarding it. I guess I've done at least some of my homework though because there was little in your comments that was news to me. I also know that there are plenty of people right there in Luna County who have done much more " homework " than I, and have also decided against this mine. You know little about me, but I'll you this I was a geology major for 3.5 years at the University of Texas and had transferred to the University of Nevada precisely to be near where the mining for gold was happening in the late 1980's before having a change of heart about the whole thing. In the future take note of the space where you want to push your agenda. This is my personal blog and I am under no obligation to leave your comments up at all. I am also not interested in any further back and forth with you regarding this particular issue. The notion that anyone who disagrees with you is a mindlessly anti-mining I found particularly insulting especially when it is based on some rather mild comments on my part. The further notion that environmentally minded people want places such as the Florida Mountains to be "private parks" is right out of some ridiculous industry playbook and hardly needs any further commentary except to say: It couldn't be farther from the truth, at least for me. The whole reason I write this blog is in the hope that more people will get out into these places and enjoy them as I have. In fact your entire overly lengthy and overly vehement response makes me think that, as is obviously true, you are personally invested in this mine's future success( it's very easy to look these things up) as the original permit applicant to EMNRD for exploration, which of course you chose not to reveal.

April 17, 2023 at 6:48 PM  
Blogger Devon Fletcher said...

Terri, if you want an example of that private parks notion. I have one for you, right there near Deming, only it isn't environmentalists who are guilty. It's a rancher and a hunting guide who have successfully turned the BLM lands on top of the Little Florida Mountains into their private and profitable hunting ground for ibex by blocking several avenues of access by posting private property parcels on roads that have been traditionally used for many years. Here's the kicker: some of the parcels are patented manganese mining claims from the days when you could still patent mines.

April 17, 2023 at 7:18 PM  
Anonymous Bryson said...

Very thoughtfull blog

July 29, 2024 at 8:54 AM  
Blogger Devon Fletcher said...

Thank you.

July 29, 2024 at 2:50 PM  
Blogger Celia said...

Great post. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

August 8, 2024 at 1:02 PM  

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