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| Kilbourne Hole (center) with White Sands National Park in the sun in the distance beyond the Organ Mountains. |
While the Organ Mountains is the most popular of the national monument’s general areas, three other sections offer fantastic sights and trails. Those three areas include: Desert Peaks; the Doña Ana Mountains; and the Potrillo Mountains.
Desert Peaks
Several mountain peaks in this part of New Mexico rise directly off the desert plain. Among them are the Robledo Mountains and Sierra de las Uvas.
• Picacho Peak Trail – A fantastic view of the Mesilla Valley and the Organ Mountains awaits on this 2.2-mile trail round trip trail that heads to the top of a 35-million-year-old volcanic mountain. The trail gains 764 feet on its way to the 4959-foot high peak. From the junction of Interstate 10 and West Picacho Avenue/U.S. Hwy. 70 (Exit 135), take the latter east. Turn north on Picacho Hills Drive and after a mile continue on Barcelona Ridge Road. Go north on Anthem Road then turn north onto the unpaved Loop Road. The trailhead parking lot is in 1.5 miles.
• Prehistoric Trackways Trail – The world of 280 million years ago is preserved along this 7.8-mile trail, which features footprints of reptiles, amphibians and insects as well as fossils of plants and petrified wood. Though actually part of the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, the 5280-acre site sits in the Robledo Mountains next to the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. The trail boasts 1,459 feet in elevation gain, and leashed dogs are allowed on it. From the junction of Picacho Avenue/U.S. Hwy. 70 and Shalem Colony Trail in Las Cruces, take the latter north. Turn west on Rocky Acres Trail to a the trackways’ dirt road entrance on the left/west. Only high-clearance, 4wd vehicles can traverse the road after a mile.
Doña Ana Mountains
Though technically a desert peak its own right, this area usually is considered separate because of its distance from the other such summits. It also boasts extensive recreational facilities for hikers, mountain bike enthusiasts, rock climbers and equestrians.
• Dona Ana Peak Trail – Hikers can head up a canyon and scramble over rocks on a 1.7-mile round trip trail to a mountain peak at 5822 feet above sea level. The trail gains 977 feet in elevation as passing cacti and yucca while hawks and owls fly overhead. From the junction of U.S. Hwy. 70 and Sonoma Ranch Boulevard, take the latter north. Turn right/east onto Peachtree Hills Road then left/north onto DO64/Jornada Road. Go left/west onto DO63. In 1.7 miles, turn left/south onto an unpaved road. Turn right/west in 2.7 miles onto another unpaved road; the trail begins where the road ends.
Potrillo Mountains
Located southwest of Las Cruces, this remote section consists of cinder cones, lava flows, and volcanic craters. The landscape is otherworldly.
• Kilbourne Hole Volcanic Crater Trail – You can hike the rim of a maar volcanic crater that is at least 24,000 years old on a 7.8-mile loop. The crater measures 1.7 miles long by a mile across is is hundreds of feet deep. It’s located in the Kilbourne Hole Volcanic Crater National Natural Landmark, adjacent to the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, and is difficult to reach. From the junction of Interstate 10 and New Mexico Hwy. 183/Vinton Road, take the later west. Go right/south on New Mexico Hwy. 28/Lew Henson Highway then right/west onto New Mexico Hwy. 182. Next turn right/north onto Alvarez Road and then left/northwest onto A020. Go left/southwest onto Aviation Road. Upon crossing the railroad tracks, take A012 right/north then A011 left/west. At the junction of A013, pull off the road and follow the first path north to the crater rim.
Read Part I
