The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument is a gem in the Desert Southwest near Las Cruces, NM. I ran several sections of the Sierra Vista Trail here recently and have explored many of the other trails in the past. Links to my other adventures in the monument are listed below.
The national monument encompasses about 500,000 acres and includes the beautiful Organ Mountains and the Potrillo Volcano Field. The Sierra Vista Trail runs along the base of the Organs affording tremendous views of the mountain chain.The entire trail is around 30 miles long and the Sierra Vista Trail Runs are held every year in March.They offer many distances including a 100K and several relay races so there is a race for everyone.
I picked a nice sunny day and ran the trail from the Pena Blanca Parking area off of I-10.
Directions: Exit the Mesquite, NM ramp from I-10 and head East on B059. Soon you will be on a dirt road. At mile 3.25 the road takes a sharp left, but you will continue straight until you see a large gravel parking lot on your left at about mile 4.5. (There are also several easier to reach trailheads off Soledad Canyon Rd and Dripping Springs Rd in Las Cruces, NM; in Vado, NM and Anthony’s Gap, NM404, near El Paso, TX.)
 |
| Pena Blanca |
The trail can be reached from the north end of the parking lot, but I took the dirt road northeast and headed towards the Pena Blanca mountain not really knowing how far It would take me. Well, I was pleasantly surprised because I ran along the edge of the mountains and the scenery was spectacular. The Pena Blanca is a light yellowish peak with a ramp of smooth eroded rock that looks like something from another planet. Green juniper bushes and other vegetation grow in the weathered gullies of the outcrop.
I continued along the road with fine views of the main mountain range, the peaks shrouded in clouds. Yucca, prickly pear cactus and creosote bush dot the landscape. Pretty soon I came to some very impressive high towers of rock with sheer cliffs rising from the desert floor. Several formations were reminisce of El Capitan and Half Dome of Yosemite fame albeit smaller. In the distance were many upscale adobe homes where exists an island of private property surrounded by a sea of national monument. Wouldn't I love to live on that island! There was a fork in the road here so I took the right one towards the mountains. This just led to a dead end into a canyon, but the views were very pleasant. I turned around and took the left fork figuring it would eventually intersect with the Sierra Vista Trail.
I ran for a while and reached a dam that created a stock tank, but it was dry. This land, operated by the BLM, is cattle grazing country. Eventually I picked up the main single track trail and headed north. The path had a slight incline to it and I ran through a few arroyos. It’s easy to miss the trail once you are in a dry wash so watch for rock cairns or the flat brown trail markers. Sometimes a dirt road intersects the trail in the drainages and I’ve inadvertently followed the road instead of the single-track trail because I wasn’t paying attention.
Eventually I made it to the Soledad Canyon road parking area where a few hikers were heading out on the trail. These were the first people I had seen all morning after having run 10 miles. The next three mile section is always my favorite. Here there are great views of the Organ Needles, jagged peaks that resemble the pipes of an organ, hence the name of the mountain range. These peaks very much resemble the famous Italian Dolomites.
 |
| Organ Mountains |
The trail here is very hilly and twisty in spots taking you down and out of several drainages and is very fun to run; at least the downhill parts, that is. I reached the Dripping Springs road trailhead where there is a primitive camping area with no facilities. They have recently improved this area with gravel pullouts for RVs and installed posts with cabling to prevent off roading in this area. This is the northern terminus of the trail and the Sierra Vista Trail Run staging area. I turned around here and ran back which was mostly downhill. Remember this if you run the race. The second half of your out-and-back course has a deceptively difficult uphill return so don’t go out too fast!
Read my race reports:
I enjoyed looking at some impressive barrel cacti that still had their yellow fruits that resembled mini pineapples. I thought about tasting one, but didn’t relish the idea of picking thorns out of my tongue for the rest of the afternoon. I passed through a rock garden of crumbling oxidized stones of various hues of ochre all the while enjoying the massive mountains in the backdrop. A few brown cows were grazing peacefully amongst the yucca and grasses. After almost 23 miles of running I returned to my car, but decided to continue south on the trail. First I took a short break and filled my water bottles and ate some thornless fruit.
 |
| Barrel cactus fruit |
I was pretty tired by this point, but wanted to try to get in 30 miles because I have a 100K in the Franklin Mountains next month; the Lone Star Hundred put on by Trail Racing Over Texas. I continued on and could see a lone horseman in the distance. Some very interesting cacti were along the side of the trail on this stretch. I believe they were the strawberry hedgehog cactus, clusters of small barrels with very long white needles but with red skin instead of the usual green. Apparently their strawberry tasting fruits are edible, so remember that the next time you are stranded in the desert and starving or dying of thirst. Another species looked like the common Texas rainbow cactus, but had very red thorns.
 |
| Hedgehog cactus? |
 |
| Texas rainbow? |
Soon I reached the base of the Bishop Cap, a peak that can be seen from I-10 near Vado, NM. The pyramid shaped prominence appears to be wearing a bishop’s cap hence the name. About one third of the way up the mountain is a narrow horizontal slit; a cave that looks like the exit for Batman’s hover craft. As I run, I ponder what could be in there. Mountain lion den? Ventilation shaft for a secret mountain bunker? After all, Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range lie just on the other side of the mountain.
 |
| Bishop Cap and cave |
Click here to see what’s really inside the cave.
 |
| Red skin on a cactus |
Anyway I finally reached a large cattle pasture near the Vado Trailhead and turned around. I was beat by this point so I walked some of the uphill sections. I made it back having covered 30 miles in a little more than 7 hours. The Sierra Vista Trail is very runnable and there are plenty of access points and parking areas along the trail. In addition, the trail can be traveled south from Anthony’s Gap (NM404) connecting to the trail system in the Franklin Mountains State Park in Texas in case you want to run two states at once. I enjoyed my day and took a load of pictures in one of our nation’s most beautiful national monuments.
See you on the trail.
Other posts from the National Monument:
Fillmore Canyon Soledad Canyon Baylor Pass and Pine Tree LoopMy Strava Track:
No comments:
Post a Comment