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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
2,800 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | | | |
| 2,800 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I decided to do a trip over to Las Cruces for a couple of days since I hadn't been there in awhile (plus I had a coupon for a carne asada meal at Habaneros that I needed to redeem). There are some really good restaurants in Las Cruces. Under normal circumstances I would have also gone to the Dripping Springs/Ice Canyon area in the Organ Mountains to do the nice hike there. But with the government shutdown, I was content to just hang out in town. Luckily though, the Las Cruces Hiking meetup posted a hike Sunday to the Rabbit Ears area, and that gave me a chance to explore a part of these beautiful mountains that was new to me. 
The carpool meeting place was just a stones throw from my motel, and at 0730 five of us were on our way to the start point just off Baylor Canyon Road. Basically you follow an old road up to an large rectangular building (Topp Hut), which was a bunkhouse for miners who worked at the Hayner Flourite/Ruby Mine, located about another half mile up the road. Seeing the building and mine artifacts was a plus on this hike. Past the mine a trail continues over into a canyon at which point it narrows down and becomes more interesting. One thing about hiking in the Organ Mountains is that things get very steep and intense rather quickly. Truly a dramatic range! Lots of boulder hopping on this one for a full body workout. Once you turn to the south the real steep stuff is encountered on your way to a high saddle near the Rabbit Ears. I stopped maybe about a hundred feet or so short of the saddle, while the others continued on up. Felt pretty good, but was getting tired at that point, and didn't want a repeat of my difficulties last year coming down from the Needle. The one nice thing about this hike is that everything was on good solid rock...so much better than the Needle hike in that regard. 
I decided to go back down the canyon to where it makes the bend and wait the the others to return and then walk out with them. Did this mainly because I wasn't sure how much difficulty I might have on the downhill and didn't want to slow the group down. Turns out I was strong the whole hike and had no issues.
This was a very enjoyable and challenging hike...better than the Needle in my opinion.
After the hike it was back to the motel for a shower, then on to Mesilla for another great meal at Andele and some beer at High Desert! Next day it was back to Tucson after buying some books and enjoying a good breakfast at Mesilla Valley Kitchen (another new one for me that I give high marks). Great little trip! |
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