Prehistoric Trackways National Monument - Walkabout

South Rocotillo

Apache Canyon

Robledo Mountains

gastropod fossils

Little Apache Canyon

brachiopod fossil

Rock fall in Little Apache Canyon

South and North Rocotillo Canyons

Picacho Peak

I needed to get out quickly before the predicted wind hit. My previous two hikes on this spring break to the Good Sight Mountains, and then the Florida Mountains, involved long drives. That wasn't going to do. I had been slightly intrigued by the narrow passage of Little Apache  Canyon in the Robledos while  researching another hike earlier this year. Without too much agonizing I just went for it.

 I came at it from the east side, first going up South Rocotillo Canyon, where I encountered a stranded and or abandoned vehicle. It looked in good working order (no obvious damage). I looked in the windows all the way around- nobody home.  On my return trip it was still there with no one around. I contacted the BLM about it later. Don't know what the story was.

 I veered out of the canyon and up over a hill into Gypsum Canyon and then up over another hill and down into the main Apache Canyon where there was a reasonably easy way up just north of the volcanic plug there.

Basalt plug. Picacho Peak in the distance.

Finally arriving in  Little Apache creek on the other side of the ridge, I headed upstream. It's was pretty tight back in there as the canyon squeezed me into a narrow passage through  cliffs of sedimentary rock. I had to scramble up a dry waterfall  cut in blocky limestone, above which the canyon took on the rather dreary anonymous look of many of the dry washes that vein through the Robledos.

Dry falls

 I got back up on the ridge and decided on a slightly different route back to my trailhead. The best parts of the trip back were a too brief trek in the main Apache Canyon and two of its tributaries, and the magnificent views down into South Rocotillo Canyon.  I thought sticking to either one of these would have made a better hike than the one I chose. Those trips will just have to wait for another day. 

South Rocotillo

Apache Canyon

Robledo Mountains Hikes

micro landscape shot

ammonite (or more likely a snail) fossil

petrified wood

 Moss in the very narrow stretch

December wildflowers

petrified wood

Iron ore rocks

Split Rock Canyon waterfall

Petrified wood

 I did two hikes in the Robledos last week. Both used routes I've travelled often to get to some places that are new to me. The first one was in the canyons and mesas just to the northwest of Picacho Peak. The BLM has moved the entrance from the frontage road to the road that runs along the east side of the airport. The old entrance is fenced now and has a handmade wooden sign pointing west saying only" Box Canyon." The new entrance is wide and surfaced with fresh gravel and is hard to miss just a short ways west from there.  Unfortunately, the improved road ends very quickly and we were back on the zero maintenance "way" towards Box Canyon which is getting to point where you will need four-wheel drive just to get to the trailhead parking, never mind the truly horrendous pitch down into the canyon just beyond. I drove down part of it but then availed myself of the  large secondary parking area past which things are really a mess with large rocks, deep gullies and a decidedly off-camber section. I probably could have made it, but when you are alone, why risk it?  Since I wasn't going to get to the area near the dam in a vehicle I took a more direct route going cross country and soon was looking down into Box Canyon. There was a nice little stair-step branch cut into the bedrock here, that allowed me down easily and so I was able to cross the canyon without too much fuss. I continued on to the road that would bring me up on the mesa to the northeast of Spring Canyon.

Spring Canyon

Box Canyon

Box Canyon

Spring Canyon

Pottery sherds and carnelian pebble

Spring Canyon

Spring Canyon

Box Canyon

South Branch of Apache Canyon, Organ Mts. in the distance

 Walking on the road wasn't super exciting, but at certain points  the views down into the canyons or off to the Organ Mountains were nice. I was searching for a certain someplace, that I won't go into detail about here that I was not finding. I turned around and decided to take a different route back utilizing a couple maneuvers I had done in the past. It was in and out of one canyon, onto the mesa, then using a stretch of Spring Canyon,  next returning to the road for bit before going cross-country on another mesa and then eventually ending back on the road for good all the way to my truck.

Along the way I did find the someplace, I think, in a spot that made a lot more sense  than where my plan  had initially brought me

The second hike, I started out a the Trackways trailhead, eventually heading into the Robledo Mountains Wilderness. Last year I  had  looked at a canyon on the eastern escarpment just to the south of Split Rock Canyon. This time I was going to take a look a two canyons just to the north. I initially overshot both of them and found myself looking down into the beautiful, big canyon I call Robledo Canyon. I also took a look at one of its large side canyons with massive layers of limestone in rust and gray, before turning around at a dry waterfall.

 I found the canyon I was looking for just over ridge to the south. It quickly became a very narrow affair, crowded with junipers and sotol. Although it eventually opened up downstream, it got to the point where it was barely wide enough for me to squeeze through. 

There was no actual pour-off type waterfall as with Split Rock Canyon and the neighbor to the south. Instead,  I was  looking  down a very steep jumble of large boulders trailing out onto the mesa below when I decided to move on.

A second canyon nearby wasn't much more than a crease, so I continued  on climbing up to get a look into Split Rock Canyon from the little peak on its south side. Fanstastic views from up there that I highly recommend to anyone who makes the effort to  get out here.

 Two warm winter days, but not too warm. Sunshine, blue skies with wispy white clouds. Two hikes that were longer than my usual ones nowadays, but all was good.