Day Hike at Organ Mountains

After spending the morning at White Sands, I wanted to do some trail hiking. Not far from the national park is a recreation area called Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces. The Organ mountains were apparently named such long ago due to the peaks resemblance to organ pipes. The area was proclaimed a national monument in 2014 and feature camping, picnicking, and hiking trails. The Bureau of Land Management website has a lot of really good and useful information and maps about this recreation area and is a great resource to plan a visit.

I decided on hiking the Baylor Pass trail from the Aguirre Spring picnic area where the trailheads are located. The trailhead sits at a relatively high elevation 5650 feet and the trail climbs from there to about 6385 feet at the pass. I didn’t realize this at first but as I hiked I began to notice that I was feeling a little shortness of breath. At first I thought I was a bit tired and then I check and found out the elevation of the trail. This is quite a contrast in elevation for a person that typically hikes in central Texas. But, after a while it didn’t seem to be too bad and I made it to the peak without issue. I was mainly relieved to know that there wasn’t something wrong with me. Below is a photo of the rabbit ears, which rises to over 8000 feet, as seen from near the trailhead. The pass sits in a saddle between the rabbit ears and Baylor Peak.

The trail is a steady climb for about 2.5 miles up to the pass. There are a lot trees along the way offering some shade, but you should be prepared for a lot of direct sunlight. Most of the trail gives you views of the peaks and of the desert floor in the distance showing the White Sands Missile Range area.

Once you make it to the top of the pass, you are rewarded with a large pile of rocks to mark your accomplishment. The trail can continue from here down the other side where it ends up at the opposite trailhead, but I turned around and headed back once I got to this point.

Below is a view from the pass looking back towards White Sands. There is a fence that you can get through with a narrow u-turn that prevent cows from passing I suppose.

On the way up the trail, I shot with a wider angle lens for the landscape photos and at the top I rested and swapped out lenses so that on the way down I had a longer lens (100-400mm f/4.5-5.6) in case I saw some wildlife. I saw and heard a lot of birds, but as for terrestrial animals I mainly just saw some small brown lizards at the lower elevations. The lizards didn’t seem to be very worried about me and politely posed while I snapped a few close-ups. Perhaps the lizard was relying on its camouflage and hoping that I could not see it. Either way, fortunately for the lizard it was not on my menu for the day.

My plan was to drive to another area for an additional hike, but I had spent a lot more time at White Sands National Park in the morning than I had planned and I had to drive to Tucson after this so this was my only trail at this location. But, this is a fantastic recreation area with great hiking and a nice camping area. I will put it on my list for if I am ever back in the Las Cruces area again. Thanks for reading.

28 thoughts on “Day Hike at Organ Mountains”

  2. WHAT?!?! So you were closer than I imagined! I mean you were on the mountain near where I work. You should have let me know, we could have done lunch or something. Your pictures from that actual trail (where I’ve never been) are stunning!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Great photos of the blue sky, fluffy clouds, and mountains. A cute lizard, too.

    Hmm…. glad you didn’t get too close to the missile range, like a certain elf supposedly did.
    And are you certain no cows passed by the gate?

    Liked by 1 person

  6. The wilderness was spectacular. The camera shots do it fully justice; with light filtering through the lens to illuminate the entire surroundings. I thought the lizard was well-camouflaged. Its mottled brown coloration goes with most of the rocks and dirt it would encounter on its travels. Sometimes I feel like that lizard: camouflaged against the predators of life.

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