Page 2 - Walks In The Black Range, Vol. 4

Walks in the Black Range
In the southwest of the United States a trail is a way of
getting from one point to another, it is not necessarily a
path, a road, a track... it is a way. It may be a formal trail, it
may be a ridgeline, it may be a wash, it may be an old road,
it may be a line of sight. Some version of all of these trail
types are found in this edition.
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The Trails
Lower Gallinas Canyon
This trail starts at NM-152 and heads south down a canyon with a nice spring to Gallinas Creek. From there it heads downstream. The parking area for this walk is the same which may be used for the Rabb Park hikes and Noonday Canyon hike found in Volume 3.
Bull Trap Canyon, Lower Silver Creek Falls
This trail starts at the old Lower Gallinas Campground, heads downstream and then east and south across a ridge and into Bull Trap Canyon. Sections may be difficult.
Sawyers Peak Trail
This is one of the standards of the Black Range. It starts at Emory Pass and follows the Black Range Crest Trail south to Sawyers Peak. This trail changes with the most recent fire, flood, and/or snow storm but remains basically the same.
South Percha - Drummond Canyon
This trail starts at a pullout on the south side of NM 152 and follows an old mining road down to South Percha Creek. From that point it is possible to hike up Drummond Canyon which is immediately across the stream; turn right and head west upstream to a nice spring in a little park; or head east, downstream on the South Percha.
Southwest Canyon
Access to this hiking area is from a large pull-out on the south side of NM 152 about a mile west of Kingston. From the pull-out a road leads down into the canyon which can be explored upstream and downstream.
Bloodgood Spring and Homesite
This short walk starts at or near the Kingston Cemetery. Cross NM 152 and head down the drainage following an old road bed (although a nice trail, a road it is not). Bloodgood Spring is not far down the drainage. There are several
“artesian” (meaning the water bubbles up from the rock - not just out of a seep) low-flow springs at this site. Farther down the road is the old homesite. Other walk options abound at that point.
Forest Trail #134
Forest Trails 134 and 135 are accessed (at the east end of the trail) from Tierra Blanca Road. There is a road video which shows the road from NM 27 to the
This is a project of the Black Range Website, www.blackrange.org. The website, its magazine, The Black Range Naturalist, Flora+ of the Black Range, and other publications are intended to be community efforts. If you would like to provide a trail write-up for a future edition please do so - contact Bob Barnes at rabarnes@blackrange.org.
This is electronic media, it is not available in hard copy, you can not buy it. It is free. If you have a copy, please forward it to anyone who might like to have it. The Black Range website does not accept advertisements nor does it accept monetary donations. It is “not-for-revenue”. It is about sharing knowledge. This publication is available as a .pdf on the Black Range Website or in magazine format at our bookcase.
This publication is offered to you under a Creative Commons non-commercial license, you are free to use it for whatever non-commercial use you wish (except that the copyrights of trail descriptions submitted by anyone other than Bob Barnes are retained by the submitter). Copyright will be aggressively enforced and penalties exercised in the case of any unauthorized commercial use.
All descriptions of trails are accurate as of the time they are written. But the Black Range is a rugged place and changes to the trails can happen quickly. Therefore, when you walk one of these trails it may not be like the one described here.
As noted above, the Black Range is a rugged place, it is a place where you can get hurt and it can be a long time (most trail distances are not long in the Black Range - but it can take a while to get from “A” to “B”) before you get help, so be careful. The Black Range has its share of potentially dangerous critters, other than an occasional snake bite, I have never heard of that potentiality being realized - be warned, but most of all be happy.
Recognition should be given to the Southern New Mexico Explorer blog of Devon Fletcher, which is not affiliated with the Black Range Website or its projects. His blog is the best source of information on the trails of Southern New Mexico. He has kindly provided several trail descriptions for use in this volume.
Unattributed work is by Bob Barnes.
Sawyers Peak