Skip to main content

Aguirre Springs Road

By


Aguirre Springs Road is an approximately six-mile roadway located in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. Aguirre Springs Road connects US Route 70 near San Augustin Pass to the Aguirre Spring National Recreation Area & Campground in the Organ Mountains. The two southernmost miles of Aguirre Springs Road is narrow one-way loop. Aguirre Springs Road can be found as a primitive road on some early1940s era United States Geological Survey maps. Originally Aguirre Springs Road followed the eastern part of the now one-way loop which has grades exceeding 10%. Since 2014 the Aguirre Spring National Recreation Area has been incorporated into Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.




Part 1; the general history of Aguirre Springs Road

One of the earliest maps to display Aguirre Springs Road is the 1941 United States Geological Survey Map of Organ Peak.  Said map edition depicts Aguirre Springs Road branching south from US Route 70 near San Augustin Pass to the namesake Aguirre Spring located at approximately 5,500 feet above sea level in the Organ Mountains.  Aguirre Springs Road is shown ascending to Aguirre Spring along what is now part of the eastern part of the one-way loop the modern road utilizes.  


Aguirre Spring is not named on the 1941 Map of Organ Peak, but Aguirre Springs Road can be seen terminating at a water source east of Baylor Pass.


Aguirre Spring appears named on the 1955 United States Geological Survey Map of Organ Peak.  


The southern end of Aguirre Springs Road appears as an elongated one-way loop on the 1982 United States Geological Survey Map of Las Cruces.  


Aguirre Spring is part of Bureau of Land Management held land and was eventually declared Aguirre Spring National Recreation Area.  The Aguirre Spring National Recreation Area was incorporated into Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument which was declared by then President Barrack Obama on May 21, 2014.  




Part 2; a drive on Aguirre Springs Road

As US Route 70 eastbound descends from San Augustin Pass it intersects Aguirre Springs Road.  Traffic is advised Aguirre Springs Road can be used to access the Aguirre Spring National Recreation Area.  


As southbound Aguirre Springs Road begins traffic is warned about the steep and winding road approximately three miles ahead.  Hours of operation for the Recreation Area are also posted.  


Aguirre Springs Road south from US Route 70 and enters the boundary of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.  








Aguirre Springs Road continues south of the National Monument boundary and reaches a one-way fork where the loop portion begins.  Modern traffic heading south is forced onto the western part of the loop.  As noted in Part 1 the steeper eastern loop was the original grade of Aguirre Springs Road.  
















The one-way southbound lane of Aguirre Springs Road climbs towards the namesake spring within view of the formation known as the Rabbit Ears. 



















Aguirre Springs Road ascends to the Aguirre Spring Campground where traffic can access the Baylor Canyon Trail and Pine Tree Loop Trail.







From the Campground, Aguirre Springs Road begins a northbound descent and reconsolidates with the two-lane portion of the road at the bottom of the loop.  The steep descent has excellent views of the White Sands Missile Range and Tularosa Basin.  















Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

By
Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue.  Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue.  During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange.  This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned.  Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains.   The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road.  This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection.  Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 15; the Mojave Freeway from Barstow to the Nevada State Line

By
Interstate 15 north of Interstate 215 near Cajon Pass towards the Nevada State Line is known as the Mojave Freeway.  From Interstate 215 north through Cajon Pass the route of Interstate 15 passes through the booming Mojave Desert communities of Hesperia and Victorville before reaching Barstow.  North of Barstow towards the Nevada State Line the route of Interstate 15 enters a sparsely inhabited 110 mile stretch of the Mojave Desert within northern San Bernardino County.    Part 1; the development of Interstate 15 north of Barstow to the Nevada State Line This blog focuses primarily on the events leading to the development of Interstate 15 ("I-15") north of Barstow after US Route 91 ("US 91") was extended to Long Beach in 1947.  For information pertaining to the development of US 91, US 466 and the Arrowhead Trail in northern San Bernardino County please consult the blog below: The Vague Original Southern Terminus of US Route 91 in the Californian Mojave Desert U...
Post a Comment
Read more