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| Hachita Peak - Little Hatchet Mtns HP, NM | | -
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| | Hachita Peak - Little Hatchet Mtns HP, NM | | | |
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Hachita Peak - Little Hatchet Mtns HP, NM
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| Hiking | 4.31 Miles |
1,900 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.31 Miles | 4 Hrs 56 Mns | | 1.21 mph |
| 1,900 ft AEG | 1 Hour 22 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | This was a hike to the summit of Hachita Peak (elevation of 6,639 feet and prominence of 2,139 feet), the highpoint of the Little Hatchet Mountains. This peak is on BLM land in southwestern New Mexico, in Hidalgo County.
"Hachita" in Spanish translates to "little hatchet", so the peak uses the Spanish name but the range uses the English translation of the name.
I drove in off of Highway 9 for about 9 miles on FR19. The road was mostly in good shape, although there was a washed out section that had a 1/4 mile bypass to get around. There were a couple of rough, rocky sections of the road but I imagine that a subi could make it to where I parked.
The first part of the hike was on a mining road. I got near a couple of mine shafts and the road looped way around so I went off-trail save some distance and rejoined the road above the mine shafts. Once the road ended I went off-trail to a saddle to hit a ridgeline that went to to Hachita Peak.
Once on the ridgeline there were a couple of subpeaks to either go over or traverse around. The first subpeak takes a steep climb to get on top of it, and once there you'd have to make a descent down to a saddle to continue on the ridgeline. I thought that it would break my spirit to have to go up and down it, so I sidehilled around it instead.
I had done some research and knew that the azimuth mark was on the second subpeak, Peak 6579, so I went up on top of it and located the azimuth mark. Then I dropped down to another saddle that was just below Hachita Peak. I saw a bighorn sheep on the saddle as I made my way down to it.
It was an easy ascent from the saddle to Hachita Peak. At the peak I located the benchmark and both reference marks. The azimuth mark and both reference marks were stamped "Little Hatchet", but the benchmark had no such stamping.
There were great views at the summit and really for the entire hike -- there is only scrub vegetation out there so there is nothing blocking your views.
I went back more-or-less the way that I came, although I took a better route down to the aforementioned mine shafts and I avoided the sidehilling on the descent. Since I was out there by myself I resisted the urge to explore one of the mine shafts. I saw some turquoise colored rocks lying around one of the mine shafts, which I think was chrysocolla, but it could have been azurite or malachite.
Synopsis
This was an enjoyable hike that had some great views along the way and at the summit. I located 4 flivers: the benchmark; the azimuth mark; and two reference marks. However, there were no signs of the airborne fliver! |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
There were a few poppies and some cane cholla blooming |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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