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

Morgan Territory Road

By
Morgan Territory Road is an approximately 14.7-mile-long roadway mostly located in the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County, California.  The roadway is named after settler Jerimah Morgan who established a ranch in the Diablo Range in 1857.  Morgan Territory Road was one of several facilities constructed during the Gold Rush era to serve the ranch holdings.   The East Bay Regional Park District would acquire 930 acres of Morgan Territory in 1975 in an effort to establish a preserve east of Mount Diablo. The preserve has since been expanded to 5,324 acres. The preserve functionally stunts the development along roadway allowing it to remain surprisingly primitive in a major urban area. Part 1; the history of Morgan Territory Road During the period of early period of American Statehood much of the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County was sparsely developed.   Jerimah Morgan acquired 2,000 acres of land east of Mount Diablo in 1856 and established a ranch in 1857. Morgan Territory Road is
2 comments
Read more

The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge (Madera County)

By
The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge is an early era arch concrete structure found alongside modern Madera County Road 200.  The structure was modeled as a smaller scale of the 1905 Pollasky Bridge (still in ruins at the San Joaquin River) and was one of many early twentieth century improvements to what was then known as the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The 1915-era bridge was replaced with a modernized concrete span during 1947 but was never demolished.  The original concrete structure can be still found sitting in the brush north of the 2023 Fine Gold Creek Bridge.     Part 1; the history of the 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge lies near the site of the former mining community of Fine Gold.   Mining claims were staked at Fine Gold during the Mariposa War during 1850. The community was never very large but became a stopping point on the stage road between the original Fresno County seat at Millerton and Fresno Flats (now Oakhurst). The stage road eventually bypas
Post a Comment
Read more

San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel

By
The Broadway Tunnel in San Francisco is a structure at Russian Hill which connects the neighborhood Chinatown to North Beach. The tunnel was included in the 1948 San Francisco Trafficways Plan as a connector between the Central Freeway and Embarcadero Freeway. The structure was completed in December 1952 and spans 1,616 feet through Russian Hill. The Broadway Tunnel was designated as the Robert C. Levy Tunnel in 1986. Part 1; the history of the Broadway Tunnel Following the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 San Francisco would see a major population boom.  The city would expand from the shores of San Francisco Bay inland towards the many steep hills.  The hills of San Francisco would prove to be a major hinderance towards the expansion of city.  Roads were generally plotted over the tops of hillsides and had steep grades.  Russian Hill in particular was one of the steepest and contained numerous streets with grades in excess of twenty percent.  Broadway can be seen cros
Post a Comment
Read more