Date: December 25, 2024 • Elevation: 5,365 feet • Prominence: 975 feet • Distance: 4 miles • Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes • Gain: 975 feet • Conditions: Sunny, then very windy with blowing dust

New Mexico • Main • PB • LoJ

East Potrillo Mountain is the eponym for the highest point of the East Potrillo Mountains, a ridge of peaks in the eastern Potrillo Volcanic Field, about an hour southwest of Las Cruces. The volcanic field consists of many singular smallish volcanic mounds, two giant pluton peaks (Cox Peak and Mount Riley), and a few maar craters of which Kilbourne Hole is the most well known.

Last year, I climbed Mount Riley, so for this year's Christmas, I planned another journey to this part of the state, intending to climb the other big peak, Cox Peak. Since East Potrillo Mountain is close by, I planned to hike both.

I left Bisbee before dawn, and was in the area about 4 hours later, roughly 9 a.m., a 215-mile drive. Being Christmas Day, there was no traffic at all. I climbed Cox Peak first, this taking about two and a half hours, which was much faster than I expected. I was off Cox Peak by noon.

I had planned to camp a night here but since I was finished with Cox Peak so quickly, I decided to hike East Potrillo today rather than tomorrow. The trip reports I read meantion that East Potrillo is a simple climb, just following a long ridge to the top, nothing complicated.

Back at my car, I drove it on the main road (CR-7) north a mile or two. Just before a cattle grate, I made a right turn onto a rougher track, this one trending southeast into a canyon situated northwest of the highpoint. I didn't get very far in, parking at the first clearing I found. I was close enough anyway, and there was no need to bash my vehicle further.

The day had started cool with high clouds. Those clouds moved on and the temperature warmed into the high 50s, low 60s, but there was a steady breeze too, 10 miles per hour with "gusts" of about 20 miles per hour, just strong enough to mess up my hair.

I walked the road into the canyon. The road dropped into an arroyo, so I followed that briefly, then exited the arroyo and started up a slope of scattered creosote and ocotillo, aiming for a lowpoint on the ridge above me. To here, I had hiked about a mile, about half of the distance to the peak.

Even from this low, I could see the whole route unfold all the way to the highpoint. Once on the ridge, I marched up the slope closest to me, then angled right and up a slightly-steeper slope, bypassing its nubbin-top by angling left and meeting the ridge slightly beyond.

The top was visible but between me and it was about four more rocky outcrops. The slope was always gentle and the footing solid. The brush was never thick, and I had lanes virtually the entire time.

I just walked up the ridge. It became rockier in general, so I either bypassed the outcrops by dropping to one side or would clamber directly on top of the rocks, whetever seemed easiest and safest.

I was soon on the summit ridge. I topped out on it and saw the highpoint cairn up ahead, and walked to it. The climb had taken just over an hour, covering 2 hours with about 975 feet of gain. Never once was it difficult. I never battled cliffs or bad rock or ugly brush.

I spent a few minutes relaxing and looking around, snapping a few images. I got a couple nice images of Cox Peak and Mount Riley from this elevated position. To the north, I could see the big crater pits of Kilbourne and Hunts Holes, as they're called. These things are quite large, Kilbourne almost a mile in diameter with over 300 feet of subsidence.

The wind had become much stronger and sustained. Also, to the south and west, the sky had become blotted out by dust. The winds were blowing a big dust cloud this way. It wasn't like a haboob where you can't see twenty feet in front of you. This was a very dispersed mist-like cloud of particulates.

I descended the mountain the exact same route, and was down into the side canyon after a half hour, shielded from the wind. Once out of the canyon, walking the road back to my car, the wind kicked up again. By now, Cox and Riley were obscured to where I could only see their shapes but no detail, and I was just a couple miles away.

The round trip took me just over two hours. It was past 2 p.m. and I was very pleased to have climbed both Cox and East Potrillo on the same day. I had figured 4 hours for each, but I got them both done in just over 4 hours total.

The heavy and dusty wind was also killing any desire I had to camp here. I had no other peaks in the area on the docket, and I did not want to sit in my car for the rest of the day, trying to stay out of the wind and not breathe in the dust.

I exited back onto the main highway and took that into Sunland Park, the "suburb" of El Paso on the New Mexico side of the state line. I had a hotel room reserved for tomorrow night. I stopped at a Love's and tried calling them to see if I could get a room for tonight too, but they would answer, put me on hold and forget about me.

I drove to the hotel anyway and was able to get a room. Now a day ahead of schedule, I relaxed in my room and looked for something to do for tomorrow. Not interested in another big peak or two, I came up with a driving tour, from El Paso to Alamogordo to Las Cruces and back, where I would tag a few easy bumps along the way. The story continues here.