Manning Canyon summit(u)
The Tres Hermanas Mountains (Three Sisters) are a series
of bold rock outcrops in New Mexico just north of the
Mexican border. If the dessert has the sweeping quality of
an ocean here, these mountains are like small islands in
this tranquil sea. The higher Florida Mountains to the
north have a more direct visual appeal, but it's easier to
get a bike through the rock outcrops of the Tres Hermanas.
This is a great little ride in mid February, which is
ecspecially great fun when the news is dominated by snow
storms in the Rockies, and north eastern blizzards. There
is guaranteed no snow in this corner of New Mexico.
Instead it's a fascinating landscape comprised of prickly
pear cacti, Ocotillos, statue like trees and other hearty
plants. Except for the initial turnoff, there are no signs
of any type along the route. The name of the summit is
derived from a label in the "Roads of New
Mexico" atlas published by Shearer Publishing.
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01.(mile00,4210ft) START-END EAST:
jct NM11 - Lauterner Lane, north of Columbus
02.(mile03,4500ft) stay right for Manning Canyon
03.(mile06,5030ft) TOP
03.(mile08,4660ft) profile continues right, heading
north
04.(mile14,4150ft) START-END WEST: NM11 is to
the right (east) from this dirt road crossing
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 Approaches
From East. The dirt road turnoff from NM11 to this
summit is opposite an old development that was to become a
private air park hacienda (picture in photo page). Now signs
advertise the sprawling arched motel walkways as the land of
opportunity, which is for sale. The turnoff to Lauterner Lane
is a few hundred yards north of the entrance to the old air
park. You can't miss the entrance to the old air park. Looking
through it you see a replica of an old plane used to chase
Pancho Villa back into Mexico perched as foreground to the
Florida Mountains.
Lauterner Lane heads gently up an expansive alluvial fan to
the foot of the Tres Hermanas Mountains. As the main traffic
on this road makes a right hand turn to two private homes, the
route continues straight. A few hundred yards before the end
of the road a double track trail takes off to the right. It
heads north along a fence line, surrounded by a surrealistic
plantscape of cactuses and ito plants. The route crosses a
fenced gate, trending westwards again, and then heads in the
general direction of the highest peak in the Tres Hermanas.
After another gate is crossed a right fork followed by a left
fork (or possibly the reverse) heads into a canyon flanking
the most prominent peak. A short climb into the shallow canyon
leads to another left fork that climbs the summit in one short
swell foop (or fell swoop). From this last fork you can see
another less traveled trail that climbs a summit to the south
at about the same altitude, and also a prominent trail that
climbs a shoulder of the highest peak to the north. The route
on the north side ends at the saddle, even though that is not
apparent from this vantage point. The short stretch to the
summit followed here is quite rocky and necessitates some
walking.
From West. (described downwards). There hardly seems
to be a descent at all from these low rocky outcrops back down
to the dessert. The route enters an arroyo for only a short
time and then crosses a plethora of other tracks. The general
idea is to head north and down the alluvial fan, which
necessitates a number of right and left turns at forks. Best
just to budget a little extra time. The route exits onto a
county road through a fenced gate, where there is also a
fenced parking lot of sorts. From here one can go back to the
Columbus-Demming road or head west direction Tres Hermanas
Grade road, where a stationary unmanned blimp is waiting to
photograph illegal aliens, coming across from Mexico. The
blimp also makes a good orientation point, and also sometimes
misidentifies mountain bikers as illegal aliens ( for example
me ), since illegal aliens are a lot more common than cyclists
in this general area. When riding alone this has the advantage
of a possible rescue by border patrol in case of emergency.
Tours
Dayrides.
A loop ride with a few extra out and backs was as follows:
Columbus > Manning Canyon summit(u) > around the north
side Tres Hermanas mtns to NM11 > back to Columbus.
The mileage and time includes around 5 extra miles of
checking possible routes on the west side of the summit and
about 10 miles of unrelated mileage trying to find a bikable
route around the south side of the Florida Mountains: 50
miles with 1500ft of climbing in 4:5 hours, measured with a
VDO MC1.0 cycle computer.
back to New
Mexico's Summits and Passes by Bicycle
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