Overview:
This scramble takes you to Sharkstooth Pass, immediately east of Sharkstooth Peak in the Organ Mountains, then down to the saddle separating North Canyon and Bar Canyon. The ascent involves “Organ-eering”, a blood-spill minimizing skillset for scrambling amidst mesquite, prickly pear, shin stabbers, chollo, banana yucca, columnar cacti and ocotillo. This, while bashing through gray oak, Gamble oak and mountain mahogany thickets. Footing will be uncertain, the terrain steep. Organeering is an acquired taste. The route crosses over the boundaries of the Fort Bliss Military Reservation. The authorities there have been quietly tolerant of hiker’s who shave the corners of the reserve. A day-long drumbeat of distant artillery confirmed, utterly, assertions of live ordinance use. Having gone, I’m left feeling that this route edges uncomfortably far into the base.
So why describe it? Two reasons. First, Baldy Peak climbers might need a plausible bug-out route. Second (in the unlikely event of artillery practice being discontinued) this route might one day form part of an official Baldy Peak Trail.
Driving Directions:
- From Interstate-25 (I-25) in Las Cruces, NM, take Exit 1.
- At the end of the ramp turn east on University Drive
- If driving south (e.g. from Albuquerque) turn left
- If driving north (e.g. from El Paso, TX) turn right
- After 4.9 miles on University Drive turn right onto Soledad Canyon Road (well signed)
- at some point University Drive is renamed to Dripping Springs Road, although the transition point is not clear. Ignore the rename and simply treat this as a single road.
- After 5.2 miles on Soledad Canyon Road, at the road’s end, park in the trailhead parking lot.
- At 0.6 miles on Soledad Canyon Road, just before a firehouse, the road makes a sharp left-hand turn. The turn is well signed.
Kudos to the Las Cruces taxpayers. Once an automotive hardship, Soledad Canyon Road is now an attractive sojourn. A terrific bike lane lies near to the road and climbs to the trailhead. Nice job LCDOT!
Trailhead:
The short entrance road (formerly rife with gullies, edged rocks, lumpy boulders, potholes and other impending disasters) now glides to the trailhead on smooth pavement. A gate at the start of the entrance road signals that Soledad Canyon Road (a city street) has ended. There are no services here (water, toilet, or trash receptacles). No fees are required, but a trail register takes pride of place at the trail entrance. Please sign – the register helps keep Soledad Canyon Day Use Area open.
Google reports that the trailhead opens at 8:00 AM and closes at 5:00 PM, although the underlying BLM website does not show the hours. Arrive a little early! The new ease-of-access could make this a very popular weekend destination.
Data:
The yellow line in the above map depicts the route taken going into the pass. The blue line depicts the route coming back from the pass.
- Starting Elevation: 5568 feet
- Highest Elevation: 7639 feet
- Net Elevation: 2070 feet
- Distance: 3.0 miles (one way)
Hike Description
From the trailhead hike up-canyon past a registration box and an information kiosk. At 0.2 miles come to a fork. The left-hand branch goes north into Bar Canyon, stay right to hike into Soledad Canyon. The path generally stays on the bank of the main arroyo with occasional crossings. It used to be hard to distinguish the trail and the wash, but on this date every crossing was clearly signed.
At 0.7 miles come to a second junction, unsigned. Take the fork heading southeast (go right on ascent). I walked past the branch (see the short yellow stub in the map) because there is a line of rocks across tread. These are meant to keep loop-hikers on the loop trail. Step over the rocks and continue up Soledad Canyon. This portion of the trail runs on an old two-track that occasionally churns straight up the canyon bed. Ahead of you towers Chimney Rock, the throat of an ancient volcano.
Soledad Canyon soon begins to close in. At 1.3 miles, with Chimney Rock directly opposite your left shoulder, come to a steel fence across the two-track. Stern and accurate signage asserts a base border and reminds you of the inadvisability of messing with unexploded ordinance. If you still want to organeer, turn northeast, towards Chimney Rock, and follow the fence line up hill. The steel posts of this fence soon give out and a bold climber’s tread heads uphill and to the east.
At 1.5 miles the tread drops to the upper end of Chimney Rock Tank, one of the rare water-resources in the Organ Mountains. The water was algae-green on this date, although you could filter treat it. Wild life and cattle depend on this tank so try not to linger. Instead, look upstream and pick out the game trail that ascends along the tank’s easterly bank (the rib on your right as you look uphill). Follow this many-branched trail to gain top of the rib. It may feel as if you are climbing up to a local highpoint, but the rib surprises by simply spreading out into an Upper Sonoran meadowland. Sharkstooth Peak soars above you. It may be tempting to push east, getting positioned directly below the pass. Resist temptation! The open meadows above are a treat compared to the heavily vegetated arroyos to your right.
As you ascend study the folds of land between you and the pass. One prominent rib makes a shallow saddle and looks relatively open. Aim for it. Climb in the meadows until you are at about the same elevation as the outer end of the saddle. A thickly vegetated arroyo skulks between you and those open slopes. It looks tough, but don’t simply bash through!
Instead, scan that arroyo for a prominent juniper. Several game trails go past that tree and offer unscathed passage into the flanks of the saddle. Once you get onto the saddle, at about 2.1 miles from the trailhead, again look east and above you. The heavy vegetation on the flanks of the next rib thins, leaving the rib-top open. Immediately depart from the saddle, battle past a narrow band of thickets, then attain the open-topped rib. (On return I tried the higher terrain immediately above the saddle – not a happy experience).
The “open topped rib” gets its character because it has been scrubbed of soil. The angle of attack increases and shattered rock supports your boot soles. A forest of ocotillo plants thrives in this scant soil. Some ocotillo extend 8 feet into the air and enjoy wide spacing. “Easy!”, you think. Those big ocotillo, however, have numerous smaller cousins clinging close to the rock. These are vegetative hacksaws. Position your shins carefully. Look up to see that Sharkstooth’s summit now positioned slightly to your left. Sheer cliffs adorn the east face and wall-in the east side of the pass. Set your sights on the talus field below the pass and battle over as soon as you can.
The moderate talus angle makes for quick climbing. If you slide back a little for each step forward, at least you’re not being thwarted by thickets. Game trails along the edge help the climber. A serious brush bash glowers down from the top of the talus field. Scout for the most obvious game trail you can find. On this date I frequently crawled under low juniper branches, but those branches keep the brush away!
Sharkstooth Pass, a narrow cleft, opens to a 2600-foot wall that tumbles from Organ Peak summit to the North Canyon bed. Want more? Vexatious vegetation guards the those northern slopes. Fortunately, a steep game trail will take you directly down from the pass to another talus field. This field is steep and loose. Scramblers must work their way down to a well-compacted animal trail contouring across the field. Follow this compacted trail west (to your left). The path soon enters brush that is so dense that even deer are unable to go off-trail. Eventually you poke through into a grass-covered gully coming off of Sharkstooth. Take note of where you exit the brush! The map shows that I tried to find an alternative, higher path on return to the pass. That route cannot be recommended.
The grassy gully offers a steep scramble that quickly brings you to a shoulder jutting boldly north. (This shoulder is part of the rib that connects Sharkstooth to Baldy Peak). Look east across the summit of Squaw Mountain, where the Florida Range, Cookes Range and the Black Range dominate the horizon. Look east where North Canyon gouges the crumpled earth. Hmm, is this a “new” way to get to the Sharkstooth summit? Nope, not from this shoulder! A yawning chasm invites paragliders and spurns scramblers. The shoulder is cleaved by a deep, vertical gash – I could find no way to get to the high point only 50 feet away. Soak in the views and depart “Cloven Shoulder” by dropping back down the gully.
At the gully base turn east (left, descending) and traverse a semi-open slope. In a few hundred yards gain the rib connecting to Baldy Peak. Bar Canyon opens to the west. North Canyon opens to the east. Have a seat. Enjoy the solitude. Lunch. When done, return the way you came.
Recommendations:
Your best friends in the Organ Mountain are: thick soled boots, ballistic fiber gaiters and long pants. This terrain slices and dices; hiking shoes and shorts will sacrifice flesh. One hiking pole helps. The second pole impedes.
Carry water. I had two liters and wished for a third. Chimney Rock Tank is often dry
Deer and a rabbit come into view, but you would see more with a light pair of binoculars.
In warmer weather some lifeforms will rattle.
Links:
Couldn’t find any! Colorado has a Sharkstooth Pass that gets some attention, but the inter-web has nothing about this New Mexico pass.
New Mexico Meanders 