Organ Mountains Views

On our way down to Big Bend National Park, we stopped and spent a day in the Las Cruces, New Mexico, area.  There is a fairly new National Monument there, called the Organ Mountains National Monument.  Now, it seems that most of the activity in the section of the monument we visited centered on hiking, but we were able to see some wonderful views from our Jeep, too!

Long View of the Organ Mountains

The day was not really gloomy, but it certainly appeared that way as the clouds swirled around one portion of the area.  In this image, you can see the lovely green of the yucca plant variation and the golden color of part of the mountains, but the clouds overhead seemed rather threatening.

Clouds Hanging Low

Here’s a close up view of the clouds hanging low and covering the tops of the mountains.  You can still see the snow that powders the tops in this image, and looking at it, it’s difficult to remember that it was a pleasant, early spring day!  The mountains do have a great rugged look to them, and that was part of the overall feeling to this specific range.

Foggy Mountain Top

When I focused in on the very top of the mountains, I felt like I was standing in the middle of the Alps or Andes Mountains!  I did love the swirling of the clouds as they wove in between the mountain tops in this section of the monument.

Organ Mountains in the Sunshine

As we drove around the area of this part of the monument, the clouds seem to lift.  This image shows you the rugged line of the mountains as the range stretched out down the length of the road.  We were on our way to drive around to the backside of the mountains, and it seemed like we were leaving the clouds and snow behind us.

Quick Climate Change

But, no, we hadn’t!  Not only did the other side bring us even more snow on the section of the mountains we were visiting, one peak in particular, made me feel like I was looking at a smaller version of the sheer rock cliff at Yosemite!

Dappled Sunlight

As a total about face, when I turned away from the mountains, the look across the open country was one of the spring day we truly were happening.  The dappling of the sunlight was easy to see in this wide open landscape shot, as the sun and clouds played across the open vista.

Enjoy!