Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument - another Broad Canyon tributary.

 

West of the Cedar Hills Fault the canyon gets very rough.

Large chunk of black micro-crystalline quartz (chert)

Looking up the north branch

Nessie above the confluence of the two branches

Above the west branch

This canyon's branches start up on the plateau north of Broad Canyon cutting through gray and rust volcanic rocks steeply and briefly before meeting the Cedar Hills fault where it becomes a sandy wash snaking through more recent sedimentary rocks until it reaches Broad Canyon near the apex of a huge horseshoe bend. 

Sedimentary rock scenery

Just to south and then west is Lichen Canyon which cuts through a remnant cinder cone with a120 foot dry waterfall before before turning sharply and proceeding to a more modest dry cascade that empties into Broad Canyon. Both of these defiles are wonderful desert canyon country.  Wonderfully secret too, one could scarcely imagine they exist trekking along the flat, almost featureless plateau. They cannot be seen from Broad Canyon either. I wrote about Lichen Canyon back in 2018 when I explored the area after being clued in to its existence by my friend David Soules. I led a hike there a few years back for Friends of OMDPNM and also took good pal Doug Scott there two years ago. I found this new canyon while I was in the process of planning going back to Lichen Canyon with the Friends when I  decided I wanted to make the hike a loop this time. I had spied the canyon on Google Earth and went out a few Sundays ago to see if using it to climb out back to the plateau and the road was viable route option. It's not. Both branches are very rough and have significant drop-offs that would necessitate a degree of climbing that most weekend hikers would not be comfortable with. The north branch in particular is just one dry falls after another. We looked at it from above, climbing down a few levels before confronting a more serious drop. Then we hiked down an intervening ridge to explore it from below. After I had lifted Nessie up four or five times to get  from  one little platform to the next and so on, we stopped.

Looking down the north branch

Nessie in the north branch

 I may have been able free climb the whole thing if I hadn't have had my doggie with me. Even the worst drops may have had a way up. My experience getting through Sierro Kemado Canyon and to the precipice of the falls in Lichen Canyon gives me hope that when there's a will there's a way. Of course this canyon is much steeper than both of those, so who knows?

 Looking down the canyon. Robledo, Doña Ana and Organ Mountains in the distance

 Lone petroglyph found on a rock near where I parked. I suspect it is from the 20th century

Well, the hike to Lichen Canyon and Broad Canyon with the Friends of OMDPNM on February 28th went well. Everyone seemed to enjoy being on an adventure, which is always the point for me. The pools in Lichen still held water, but we managed the climb in and out with no incidents. It was a pretty warm for late winter (mid-eighties) so the trek up the steep ridge between the canyons was tough. I fell just before when a bank of the arroyo collapsed under me. It wouldn't have been so bad except  I grabbed a cactus on the way down. Everyone was very sweet giving first aid and patient while the many spines in my left hand were pulled out.  This is definitely a favorite place of mine in Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks NM. If you know me, you would know I rarely repeat visits except to really special places. This is my sixth time hiking this area (that's not counting the many visits just to Broad Canyon).