Page 19 - Volume 3 - Walks In The Black Range

6. North Fork Palomas Creek,
Upper Box
Contributed by Devon Fletcher
The parking area to begin this hike is about 15 miles south of Winston, NM on FR 157 not too far after the road crosses (the usually dry) North Fork of Palomas Creek. I'm calling this the"upper box" to distinguish it from a second box canyon further downstream right before its confluence with the South Fork of the Palomas. This walk is about 4 miles round-trip.
One Easter Sunday morning we headed out to this box canyon which cuts through layers of Paleozoic sedimentary rock. The North Fork of Palomas Creek is a major drainage running in between the Cuchillo and Circle Seven Creeks. Its upper box canyon is somewhere close to 900 feet deep from the hilltops to the creek bottom, but unfortunately it's open to the sun and accessible to livestock which meant there were only a couple of bends that had a few puddles of water instead of a flowing stream as with Circle Seven’s box, just above its confluence with South Palomas. Riparian
trees were limited to scattered willow clumps and mostly older cottonwoods.
We started out parking at a camping spot along FR 157 that sits 30-40 feet above the creek. We headed down the bank where the dogs began bounding through the flats covered in tall, dry grass and past some big stream side cottonwoods just beginning to bud. We began to walk in the dry, gray
gravel where my Seamus began picking up sticker after sticker. We had to stay to the most recent channel to avoid those as we went on.
Our first stop was a small shelter cave. Nearby, on the same side of the creek was another cave opening hidden in the leafless vines. I investigated in on the way back but my weak little LED flashlight was useless in trying to see into its black depths. I wonder if anyone has ever investigated it.
We came upon a few mossy puddles of water in the bedrock of the first bend and then began making our way through turn after turn. Chipmunks and squirrels ran in and out of the crevices in the limestone making my terriers more than a little excited. The walking in the stream bed was mostly in flat gravel but occasionally through boulders and bedrock.