Road Trip - Snow on the Organs - A Hermit's Cave and Seasonal Waterfall - A walk back in time to Petrogylph Canyon

 

My friend Mary and I had planned a road trip down to Las Cruces, New Mexico for some warmer weather hiking. After she had finished pet sitting for her "favorite" pet, Wiley, we headed south after a weekend storm had blown through dumping some snow in Southern Colorado and lots of rain in Southern New Mexico. So much for the "warmer" weather, though it was way warmer than here in the Wet Mountain Valley. 

We arrived late in the afternoon at a very nice rental home with good access to both US-70 and I-25. I was surprised to see that the Organ Mtns had lots of snow on them from the weekends storm. I've been coming to LC off and on since 1972 and it was probably only the 3rd or 4th sime that I'd seen snow up there. The high peaks reach up to nearly 9000 ft.

We did some shopping for coffee for Mary. Since the sun was just getting ready to set, we headed downtown to take a little walk around the central plaza and business district. We thought maybe we could possibly get a drink but the one pub that we came across seemed to be out of business.

The next morning we gassed up and headed to the Eastern side of the Organs to hike the Lone Pine trail. It's a 4.5 mile loop that starts in the Aguirre Springs Campground and rises 1,000 ft. to an elevation of 6900 ft.

 

Mary on the trail before the snow really started.

We continued up and were rewarded with great views to the east of White Sands Missile Range and beyond.

 

 

 

The snow was getting gradually deeper when we came upon this left a day or so earlier.

 

 

And it was an amazing view.

 

 On the way down.

It took us around 2 and a half hours to complete the loop. Slow going for me when the snow deepened, but it was a fun fun hike.

When we got down we headed over to White Sands National Park since Mary hadn't been there in many years. As we got nearer we could see that White Sands had not escaped the snow either. It's rare but not unheard of as the temperature does drop below freezing during the winter.

 

 A muddy drive end after the pavement ended but worth it. We got out and climbed one of the dunes.

 

 

 

 

The following day we decided to stay on the western side of the Organs. I had told Mary about the La Cueva (the cave) that was located near Dripping Springs and we doubled up on the hike to go to the seasonal waterfall in Filmore Canyon.

La Cueva was home to Giovani Maria de Agostini, "The Hermit Monk of New Mexico" for some time. He lit a fire every Friday evening to let his friends in Las Cruces know that he still lived. When the fire didn't appear one night his murdered body was found. Locals thought it was Apaches. Look him up, this was the end of an unbelievable life.

 

 

 Mary at the mouth of La Cueva. 

With all the snow up high, I figured that the falls in Filmore Canyon might be running so we headed back to the main trail and worked our way to the canyon. When we reached the falls we found just a trickle of water making it's way down the face.

 

  We got back to the truck and headed south on I-25 to the Mesquite exit where headed east on dirt roads in search of Pena Blanca, I had hiked in this area many times in the past. The road that we went in on is intersected by the Sierra Vista trail which runs North to South from just outside of Las Cruces to Anthony, Texas. 

 

 

Pena Blanca is a interesting formation with lots of different strata. It's mainly a bouldering area for local climbers.

On Thursday we headed for one of my favorite spots. Petrogylph Canyon. Located in the Tonuco Mountains about 20 miles north of Las Cruces and 10 miles or so south of Hatch.

On a windy and cooler day and we got off to a rough start when I parked the truck at where I thought I had previous parked on another trip there, but we just bushwhacked down a dry arroyo to Tonuco Draw and then headed north to the canyon opening.

 It's a little hit or miss finding the main drainage from the canyon, but we meandered about and got to the mouth of the canyon.Up we went to the first dry falls. Scrabbling up the side we eventually came to the first of many rocks covered with Petrogylphs. 

 

 After a snack and some water, we made our way back down the canyon into the draw and eventually back to the truck. Mary later told me it was her favorite hike of the trip.

 Our last day, Friday, was for visiting. Mary met her friend Rene who had moved to LC from Silver City. I drove over to Deming to visit my friend Peggy and her huge dog, Pacino. 

 Great fun.