Indian Hollow Trail - Organ Mountains Wilderness, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

  I took  a group out on the Indian Hollow Trail on 11/12/22. We were eleven including three good-natured and wonderfully enthusiastic elementary-age kids. No one had ever been out there, and a few folks were new to the Las Cruces area altogether. It was a beautiful day with sun and a few high clouds. The little streams we crossed had a trickle of water and the south branch of the Indian Hollow creek was flowing nicely in cracks in the bedrock and forming crystal clear pools of cold mountain water. Fall colors of ash and willow were at their peak.

 After having visited so many times, it's been easy for me to take the Organs for granted. The instant cure for that was to just get out there. Of course, I was instantly astounded by our much beloved mountain range, once again, in a way that the long distance two dimensional view from the city can never do. Favorite moment of the day (among many) was when Artemis Temple and forest of conifers that surrounds it on three sides below the highest peaks of the Needles first came into view. There was a collective gasp of awe and delight from our group (myself definitely included).

Birds sang.The tall, pale grass swayed with the gentle breezes. Lizards scurried out of crevices in the boulders. The children, delighted and silly about the many rock formations along the way, inspired my own child-like delight in this place. 

The trail is pretty much the same as it's been for the last twenty-four years. There seems to have been only a couple of changes and only a very few new side paths to confuse first-time visitors. It doesn't seem to get much more traffic than in past years. No one else was seen hiking on the trail, although we did meet one fellow camping who had plans to do some bouldering.

We didn't make it as far as I wanted, to the little grove of deciduous oaks near the base of Sugarloaf. That was my turnaround for another group I took out there several years ago. I always would like to get to that stand of firs and pines higher up still, but it was so good to be in this place again, I didn't mind. . . too much.

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.

Peña Blanca- Organ Mountains Wilderness

It's been many years since I visited Peña Blanca. I didn't have a blog about  it until now. If there are any pictures of those earlier trips, they might very well have been taken with a film camera, because I can't even find any from a sub- megapixel digital one I used  way back when.
 I've been out in the area  quite a few times passing by on the way to other adventures, but a few weeks  ago I just decided to make our monthly LCPS Wellness Hike to Peña Blanca. I'm glad I did.
 We parked at the trailhead, where there is now a ribbon and  " NO VEHICLES" sign across the road that would normally be driven right up to Peña Blanca. The Sierra Vista bike trail which is also right here is the boundary of the wilderness, while the road, which more sensibly should be the boundary, is within it. So, we walked the mile  and then began exploring the cliffs, alcoves, caves,  and boulders formed in the rhyolite tuff that almost seemed to shimmer in the winter morning light. There are a very few pictographs to see, lines and shapes in red pigment, in some of the shallow recesses, but the black images are charcoal drawings from more recent times.

 Our group of eleven had the place to ourselves, which was nice, and the whole area had the aura of being less visited than in the past. Or maybe we just got lucky. On a detached outcropping we found our first ancient grinding hole, and then just down the hill I found a few fragments of brown pottery.  Although I wasn't expecting to find any, in this relatively well travelled location,  earlier I had given my customary speech  about what to do if one were to find any: " look at it, and put it back."
  We had only gone about a mile and half when four of our group went back. I wished they had hung on for a bit longer to see the largest cave  with its numerous grinding holes, just a short distance away.
From there we headed north along the base the larger mass of layered volcanics, admiring the varied and unusual formations as we went. There was even a hole in the wall natural arch.



The going got a little thick through the creosote and thorny brush as we headed towards our turnaround point. We passed a mortarless rock dam and then finally stopped at small thicket of hackberry trees where a spring may have been, or perhaps seeps water out seasonally.

 After snacks, we headed out. I found two more larger pottery sherds as I walked. We found a very faint road which led us to the  road that took us the two miles back to the  parking area.