Cibola National Forest, San Mateo Mountains - Monica Cabin

Monica Cabin

We stopped by here on the way home from the cabin on Horse Mountain on the Sunday before Christmas. I'd been wanting to visit Monica Cabin for a while now, and I was also curious to see if FR 52 to NM 107 was a viable back way home. It's not, but at least I can say I've driven the whole thing now. 

We turned off of  US 60 onto FR 549 that morning around 11. It's more or less a straight shot as this good dirt road heads for the northwest corner of the San Mateos. Eventually we came up to some railroad tracks seeing that there were several more components of the Very Large Array out here which can't be seen from US 60 or NM 107. After 5 more miles is the turn-off to the east on FR 52. The road quickly brought us down into the pretty little valley that is Monica Canyon. The stream is dry here but lined with mature oaks that likely make a lovely display in late October. The cabin, several outbuildings and a windmill  are just past the creek crossing. I can't find much about the cabin's history but it looks to be built sometime after WW II I would guess. I read that it was for  Forest Service personnel who were doing field work, so that they wouldn't have to drive all the back to Magdalena everyday. It reminded me very much of the stuccoed  Forest Service cabin we saw last year of FR 522 in the Black Range, except this one was not encumbered with the accumulated junk of fifty or more years which made it quite a bit more scenic.

 We wondered around the environs a little bit, ate our lunch and then we were on our way. I had tentative plans to do short hike on an old road in Little Monica Canyon, but it was getting late on a very short day and we didn't relish the though of driving for several hours after dark. 

 FR 52 was okay for a mile or two past the cabin but then it got very, very rough and stayed mostly rough most of the way back to NM 107. If one could forget about getting one's bones constantly rattled, one might notice that it's a very scenic little drive with views down in to the rugged Estaline Canyon and beyond to the peaks and canyons on the east side of the Withington Wilderness.

Palm Park - Caballo Mountains

canyon at Palm Park

 Multiple fragments from a single rock would seem to indicate that this was a tool making site.

Mesquite in Fall color

Dry falls

We did this short hike in early December after eating at the Pepper Pot in Hatch.  Not a lot to say about this one.  It was way too warm. It seems nowadays our fall time of year has shifted and really winter doesn't arrive until after Christmas.We turned around at a dry waterfall in a canyon I had come down many years ago when I was out poking around all the old mining prospects in the area. There were lots of lithic flakes and fragments along the way. I've visited this general area a lot over the years. Being out there again after staying away for quite awhile has renewed my interest. There's still a couple of hikes I might want to do.

Later in December I led a guided hike to  Broad Canyon. It always makes me happy to bring people to see this very special place.

Broad Canyon

Cedar Mountains Range (Cedar Mountains Wilderness Study Area)

Flying W Mountain

Valiente Peak

I did this hike in early December with employees and volunteers ( of which I am one) from the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. The Cedar Mountains  are a small chain of rounded hills (with a few higher peaks) that run northwest to southeast in southwestern Luna County. On the eastern end is a small wilderness study area.  Like so many places in the west the name hardly fits: only a couple of the peaks really seem to be mountains,  and there are very few cedars ( junipers actually). The mountains are geologically similar to the many other volcanic desert ranges in the  southwestern quadrant of the state, consisting of mainly andesitic flows with some rhyolites, ash flow tuffs and occasional basalt flows, as well as the conglomerates and other sedimentary rocks that derived from these. There appears to  have been little  prospecting and unlike several of the nearby ranges they seem to be devoid of any mineral wealth in the same way the Sierra de las Uvas and the Good Sight Mountains ( two ranges where I have hiked extensively) are.

 When scouting out locations for this journey, I opted for the drainages (Deer Canyon, Sacaton Draw,Gap Draw) coming down on the northeast side of Flying W Mountain (the tallest peak in the range) where there are actually a few trees ( junipers, scrub oaks) to be seen  growing moderately dense in the canyons and scattered lightly on the hillsides.  Leaving off of NM 9 at Hermanas, the driving on the county maintained road was pretty good. Past the ranch house, though, the maintenance ends and the going gets much slower.  Beyond Valiente Well there is a descent into the Left Fork Sacaton Draw which is very rough, and the crossing of the arroyo is rougher still. We parked before crossing the main fork of Sacaton Draw (also very rough) a short ways beyond. A group of hikers followed me as we began walking west up a small tributary to the main canyon.  We eventually crossed over a low saddle into the main Sacaton Draw eventually reaching the wonderful stone and concrete dam at Rock Tank. It was a pleasant if unremarkable walking in a landscape very similar to many parts of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument right here in my home county of Doña Ana.

Dam at Rock Tank

 Shortly past the dam we began ascending northwesterly to a saddle and then descending very steeply into an upper tributary of Gap Draw. This lovely little canyon had a sweet secluded feeling to it and wonderful views of Flying W Mountain (6,275 feet). It would be a nice choice for an overnight backpack.

 Emerging out into the wide open expanse of main Gap Draw was bit of a let down, especially when we could see evidence of people still bringing vehicles into the wilderness study area.  Eventually we went up on a ridge on our right and followed a very old road to the abandoned cabin at a small private inholding which is the old Flying W Ranch. From there we headed back on the road towards our starting point. There is a crossing of an un-named arroyo just east of the cabin which is worse than the other two. Luckily we were walking.

Gap Draw

 I enjoyed this little WSA, and if I lived in Deming I probably would visit it from time to time, but it is really quite an investment in time to get there and back from Las Cruces.