Mountain Guide: Update and References

[Note: This originated from a post I wrote elsewhere, and I have decided it would be useful to post here, as well]

Back in July Earlier, I wrote a guide to the mountains of Las Cruces. I actually meant to follow that up with a little more detail of each of the mountain ranges, including access points, trails, and so forth. I still plan on doing that. I ended up getting distracted with other things (or just putting it off). In the mean time, I'd like to create a listing of other, similar, guides:

Book: Day Hikes and Nature Walks in the Las Cruces - El Paso Area, by Greg Magee
I've looked through this at Coas Books before, and I really like it. I think there's a fairly diverse group of places in here, so it's not all just mountain hiking. Some of the listings are off-trail, but there are quite a few trail listings as well.

Book: A Bark In The Park: The 45 Best Places to Hike with Your Dog in the El Paso/Las Cruces Region, by Jessica Powers (Amazon link)
I have not looked through this guide yet, but I found it on Amazon. The Table of Contents doesn't list what the 45 places are, so I can't judge on how diverse or great of a selection is included. From what I did see, however, there was at least a good introduction on taking a dog out hiking, especially going out into the desert. This book will most likely (a complete guess) be more focused on parks and trail systems in the area, with a tendency for more easier hikes than the Magee guide.

Website: Climbing Guide to the Organ Moutains, by R.L. Ingraham
This is an outstanding guide to more technical and difficult hikes/climbs in the Organ Mountains. Not all of the destinations listed here require rope and/or other technical skills, but quite a few do. The rest are fairly difficult hikes, mostly done without trails (or are non-managed, faded-out, and require bushwacking in spots). With that, this is a guide for getting to the top of many of the peaks in the Organ Mountains. If you want to see spectacular views, and love a challenge, this is a great guide.

Website: SummitPost page on the Organ Mountains
SummitPost.org is an all-around great source for climbing peaks, mountaineering, and other similar activities (lots of names apply to these). All the pages are written by other SummitPost users who have done these hikes in the past. After a page is put up, comments can be written with corrections to that if needed. This page covers some of the main peaks in the Organs, although not nearly as detailed as the Ingraham site. I think the SummitPost website is also more basic and easier to find what you need (since the Ingraham site doesn't have too many good pictures to help identify some of the locations, at least from what I found). To view individual peaks and trails in the Organs, use the menu on the left (under "Children").

There are probably quite a few more sources out there- please comment if you have any you'd like to mention. I'll probably update this entry as I get more references, instead of posting a new entry for each additional listing (just to keep everything together).

Mountains of Las Cruces: Introduction

I go hiking a lot in the mountains (often to the top of them). It can sometimes be difficult to explain to friends where exactly I'm going, however, since it has occurred to me people don't pay attention to the mountains as much as I do (and don't really know the different peaks). Not a problem! That's why I've decided to produce a nice little guide to the mountains around Las Cruces. I'll start with the basics in this post, and then move into more specifics (talking about each range in detail, and even a few peaks and hiking areas).



On the map, I've labeled the major peaks of the area (although I just realized I forgot to label Bishop's Cap- which is located at the very bottom of the image). The Organ Mountains have quite a few named peaks, so I only labeled the highest point (the Organ Needle).

There are three main mountain ranges in the area, or at least that people should be concerned with for hiking purposes:

The Organ Mountains, east of Las Cruces, are the most well-known. It’s probably one of the most popular backdrops to photos of the city and the area, and it’s generally hard to miss in town. I'll spend a good amount of time explaining the different peaks.

The Robledo Moutains are west of Las Cruces, essentially running north from Picacho Peak (another landmark of the area). In addition to Picacho Peak, there are two other major named peaks in this range, both in the northern part of the area by Radium Springs. The highest point in the range is Robledo Mountain. North of that is Lookout Peak (although I’ve also heard of it named “Signal Peak”).

The third major range in the area is the Doña Ana Mountains, north/northeast of Doña Ana. There are two major named peaks in the Doña Anas: Doña Ana Peak and Summerfold Mountain (not shown on the map- it’s a bit farther north, and more separated).

Another major range that might be worth pointing out is the San Andreas Mountains, which are the mountains directly north of the Organ Mountains, on the other side of US Highway 70. This range, however, is closed to public access. It's on a wildlife refuge, that is completely surrounded by White Sands Missile Range.

Leave of Absence

As it turns out, I haven't been caching much lately. Some have noticed my lack of hides and finds. I haven't done any local caching. Most of the caching I have done within the past few months has been on vacations: San Francisco/Wheatland (for Geowoodstock) and Navajo Lake (camping with my family). I haven't forgotten or given-up caching, or replaced it with Waymarking. Life just gets in the way sometimes, forcing more important issues to be dealt with (amazingly enough, there are more important things than Geocaching in life... sometimes that can be hard to realize). I hope to get back into things soon, though (especially since it's starting to get less hot out).