Hiking up Organ Mountain

So today we decided to hike up Organ Mountain. Our first attempt at getting there failed because we ended up on a gravel road and didn't think we were going in the right direction. So after about a mile, we turned around and, after getting back on pavement, found a postman and asked him how to get to the park for hiking. He sent us BACK up the gravel road for about 2 miles (told you so, Ed!)...then another mile on paved road and voila! There was the Visitor Center at Dripping Springs Trail Complex (in Ed's defense, there were NO signs on the gravel road indicating we were approaching the park!). The park ranger was very nice and very helpful and she gave us suggestions on which trails to hike. The first was the La Cueva trail which leads to a cave that a monk lived in alone in the 1860s. Every Friday nite he would light a fire that could be seen down in Las Cruces, to let them know he was still alive. Then one Friday, there was no fire, and the following day he was found dead with a knife in his back. Well, we started down the trail, and we didn't get more than 100 feet when right there in front of us on the side of the path, was a rattlesnake! Rattling like crazy at us! That's all it took for this baby to turn tail back up to the car...done! Ed of course wanted to go back...he threw a few rocks in the direction where the rattlesnake had been and he said it was gone...didn't matter...no way was I going back there!


After we got back in the car, we headed back down to the paved road and decided to drive up to Soledad Canyon, which was another trail that the Park Ranger had recommended...one that we could take Emma on. We hiked that one for about a mile up and back and decided that, as fun as it was, we didn't want to bring Emma with us. The trail was very rocky and climbed the whole way up. The entire time I kept thinking I heard rattlesnakes! Turned out the noise came from the clicking of wings on a particular butterfly! So we got our hike in after all, and no one got bit by a rattlesnake!

Tomorrow we're heading up to City of the Rocks State Park and the Gila Cliff Dwellers...it's about 150 miles NW and it'll be an all day trip. We're bringing Emma with us and I think she'll have a lot of fun!

Get better soon my little angels!