BRN 9-4 - Flipbook - Page 66
New Mexico Native Plant
Society Trip to Rhodes Canyon
Occasionally non-proÞts are able to arrange oneday trips into the San Andres Mountains - via the
White Sands Missile Range. On September 21,
2019 - for instance - the Las Cruces Chapter of the
New Mexico Native Plant Society arranged a trip
to Rhodes Canyon. That outing went as far as the
gravesite of Eugene Manlove Rhodes.
On that particular trip, the group was able to study
various grasses and plants like the Salvia
pinguifolia, Rock Sage, pictured at the right.
The area is, however, a military installation and
there are little reminders of that fact all around.
from the east they rise from the Tularosa Basin in a rather
dramatic fashion. The photograph at the top, of the northern
part of the Organ Mountains, was taken on September 21,
2019.
Geology of the San Andres &
Organ Mountains
The San Andres Mountains (below) are just to the north of
the Organ Mountains, literally on the other side of San
Augustin Pass. US-70 separates two dramatically different
geological landscapes.
The two photographs on the following page present the
markedly different geology of the Organ (top) and San
Andres (bottom) mountains.
The major geologic formation in the Organ Mountains is the
Òintrusive rocks of intermediate to silicic compositionÓ from
the Tertiary. The igneous rock of the Organ Mountains,
mostly granite to the north and rhyolite to the south, is of
The Organ Mountains (La Sierra de los îrganos) dominate
the Las Cruces skyline and are high enough to affect the
distribution of ßora and fauna in the area. When viewed
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