Date: April 10, 2004 • Elevation: 8,565 feet • Prominence: 3,217 feet • Distance: 6 miles • Time: 5 hours • Gain: 2,600 feet • Conditions: Cold with rain and some sleet • Teammates: Rocky & Mugsy

New Mexico • PB

The Spirit Mountains are a remote mountain range in the Bootheel of New Mexico, close to the border with Mexico. The range is visible from Interstate-10 but barely, as it is over 40 miles south from the highway. Furthermore, it sits on land belonging to the historic Gray Ranch (now absorbed into the Diamond-A Ranch), with access completely throttled. No one gets onto the property, much less climbs the peak.

The Gray Ranch sold off some of its holdings in the late 1980s, and from 1990 to 1993, Spirit Peak and its surrounding sections were under the control of the Nature Conservancy. During this period, some access was allowed to lucky hikers. However, this did not sit well with the locals. The various ranch properties formed into the The Malpai Borderlands Group, and were able to re-purchase the old Gray Ranch. Today, the Malpai Borderlands Group works to preserve the traditional ranching and economic history of this region.

There are three summits, all of which are called Spirit Peak (the English equivalent to their more common Spanish name), or some variation thereof. From the north, it appears that the left-most summit is highest, and this particular summit is officially known as Spirit Peak. However, the middle summit is slightly higher, while the right-most summit is the highest of them all. So why did the shortest of the three get the official designation? Probably because from the north it looks highest, and who ever named the peaks didn't bother to drive down to look at the mountains properly. In reality, the "left most" summit is the northern summit, the "middle summit" is about a half-mile west, and the "right most" summit is south of the two by about three-fourths of a mile. The benchmark is located on the southern, highest summit.

In 2001, I drove down to explore the area. From Exit 14 on Interstate-10, I followed state route NM-338 south for 24 miles. The main highway ends here, but a paved one-land road (Spirit Valley Road) continues south. I drove south, enjoying the scenery. The land rises, and transitions from high desert scrub to semi-montane hills with forests of fir, pinon and oak. Another twenty miles later, I was abeam of Spirit Peak and the main bulk of the range. It became clear to me that there'd no practical way to hike this mountain. There's no room to park without being seen, the Border Patrol runs through here regularly (although they probably don't care), and the locals keep an eye out too.

On my drive out, I was tailed by an Hidalgo County Sheriff's Deputy for about 10 miles. Finally, he pulled me over, claimed I had drifted into the center, ran my license, and when it came back clear, we had a friendly chat. Visitors down here are rare, so he had reasonable suspicion I was up to something. He gave me the usual warnings about border issues. On my drive back to the interstate, I was tailed the whole way by another Border Patrol vehicle, but never pulled over.

I won't go into details on how I actually got onto the property and climbed this peak. I will say that in my dealings with the ranch manager, he was friendly and more than interested to hear my proposal for a once-a-year open date, mitigating his burden of handling the occasional requests to climb the peak. But it was ultimately not his decision to make. I learned that very rarely, outsiders are let on to perform legitimate scientific or surveying work. My dealings with the ranch manager went on for over a year, but ultimately, I was denied permission.

After I was denied on my attempt to gain legal access, I turned over the project to my colleague, Rocky, who explored the "scientific and surveying" angle, and was able to come up with a truly legitimate plan that won the ranch manager's permission. Rocky then invited a few of us as his assistants onto the property over a couple of visits to the range. We were sure to be here during the times when everything was fallow. We would not be disturbing the stock or the grass banks, sections devoted to foliage, where other outfits will then allow their stock to feed for a price. We wanted to be as unobtrusive as possible.

I drove to New Mexico after work, leaving Friday afternoon and arriving onto the Coronado National Forest lands that abut Spirit Valley. Rocky and our mutual pal, Mugsy, were already there, car-camped underneath two gigantic oaks in a grassy meadow. The place was absolutely gorgeous. You'd think this was in Montana or Alberta. I was nervous that night, hoping Rocky's plan would work. I slept in the bed of my truck, but not deeply. It also rained that night. Rocky had to take cover in my truck's cab. Mugsy slept in his own vehicle.

We were up before dawn, and Mugsy drove us to the peak. Rocky had the combination to the lock to the gate that spans a side road off of the main road. This was the few minutes where we were most exposed. Once we got in past the gate and drove up and behind some hills, we were out of sight from below. Mugsy drove in about three miles, and parked where the road dropped into a draw, rendering his vehicle invisible from just about everywhere. We started hiking at dawn.

We hiked a road steeply up a grassy slope, then it leveled and ended, some large rocks blocking further progress. Hereafter, a good trail continues, angling southeast and making a long traverse through the forest. Across the way were impressive tuff hoodoos and cliffs. We kept a quick pace, and kept to the trail until it curled into a broad, thickly-forested elevated valley. The summit was above us, and about a half-mile east was a low saddle, our immediate destination.

The trail was overgrown here, but we were able to find evidence of it amid the brush, and slowly made our way to the saddle. We took a break, noting the unsettled weather above us, with gray clouds and sheets of virga. So far, we were dry, but it was cold. The hike to the top was up steep slopes of scree punctuated by thickets of brush and trees. We arrived on top momentarily, and took a well-deserved victory break. The one-way hike had taken about two and a half hours. I was just damn glad to be here. We took a few photos and looked around, but started down almost immediately.

On the descent, rain started to fall, some of it a graupel-sleet mix. It wasn't heavy, but we moved quickly. The cell that was dropping the moisture proved to be fleeting, and as we emerged onto the western slopes, we had blue skies and sun. We took a much longer break in the grass, eating, talking, relaxing. It was very peaceful and a nice respite from the rush-rush of hiking the peak. The walk back to Mugsy's car went fast, and without delay, he drove us back onto the main roads and back to our campsite, arriving at noon. Mission accomplished!

Back at camp, I slept for a couple hours in the bed of my truck, and also explored some roads and trails running through the area. By 3 p.m., the storms had built again. Spirit Peak was shrouded in clouds, and we had rain and hail at our camp. I bid Rocky and Mugsy goodbye as I had to drive to Deming and meet with Dave Covill and Edward Earl, with Dave heading west to meet with Rocky, and Edward and I planning a climb of Cookes Peak the next morning.

I was pleased to finally have hiked this lovely peak, which gave my five-year quest to hike and visit all thirty-three county highpoints of New Mexico a huge boost. I thanked Rocky for his legwork in getting us permission to enter, and Mugsy for driving. I want to stress that we were on the property legally and with permission. I also want to extend my thanks to the ranch manager, who was always a square dealer with us throughout the whole process. What we did may not work in the future. I have no idea if or when access restrictions to the summit will ever be relaxed. I wouldn't grow old waiting, however.