On Walkabout At: Dog Canyon, New Mexico – Part 2

Prior Posting: Dog Canyon, New Mexico – Part 1

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After finishing up my water break at the old cabin of Francois Jean Rochas known as “Frenchy” by the locals, I then proceeded to follow the trail further up into the higher reaches of New Mexico’s, Dog Canyon.  Shortly after leaving the cabin I reached mile marker 3 of the hike:

From the cabin the trail was quite steep as it switchbacked towards the major rock feature of the trail known as “The Eyebrow”:

The trail begins to flatten out a bit as it passes The Eyebrow which is a notorious ambush site in Dog Canyon:

Dog Canyon has long been used by Native-American tribes, most notably the Apaches as a reliable water source.  Additionally, Dog Canyon was a natural castle for anyone trying to defend it. The canyon actually reminded me of some of the canyons I saw in Afghanistan that served as natural fortresses for the Taliban that they were able to hold despite the use of all the modern weaponry that the US has.  Terrain is a critical factor in warfare and in particular choke points.  The Eyebrow is the biggest choke point in the canyon due to the trail along the cliff’s base being the only way to access the upper reaches of Dog Canyon.  The trail was narrow and on one side is a massive cliff face and on the other is a steep drop off.  Because of this choke point They Eyebrow was often used by Apache tribes to ambush US Cavalry soldiers that tried to enter Dog Canyon.  The first ambush happened on February 8, 1859 when 32 men from Ft. Bliss, Texas led by US Army Lieutenant H.M. Lazelle entered Dog Canyon in search of Apaches that had allegedly stole some cattle and mules a few days earlier.  A group of Apaches met with Lieutenant Lazelle and said that they were not the ones who stole the animals.  He did not believe them and attacked the Apaches.  From the cliffs above the eyebrow Lt. Lazelle’s men were ambushed by a number of Apaches firing down on them.  The soldiers were routed out of the canyon with a number of men wounded and killed.

(Image from Texas Beyond History)

The most infamous ambush in Dog Canyon happened in August of 1878.  US Cavalry Captain Carroll Henry led his company of soldiers into the canyon in search of a group of Apaches.  The cavalrymen had just completed a brutal trek across the Tularosa Basin to include the White Sands in the August heat.  At The Eyebrow the cavalrymen were forced to march with their horses in a single file line and this is when the ambush began.  The Apaches not only shot a number of cavalrymen out of their mounts, but rolled boulders from above down on them that caused a number of the cavalrymen to fall down the steep cliff sides to their deaths.  No one knows for sure how many have died in ambushes in the canyon, but it is estimated to be more than 100.  Not every US military force was defeated by the Apaches in the canyon though.  In March 1863 the famous American tracker, Colonel Kit Carson commanded a military force that successfully defeated a group of Apaches holding up in the canyon by using surprise.  Major William McCleave led a company size force to Dog Canyon and his Indian scouts had told them that the Apaches were unaware of his movement to Dog Canyon.  Major McCleave wasted no time in pressing their advantage by silently marching up the canyon that night and launching their attack.  They killed up to 25 Apaches and scattered the rest out of Dog Canyon.  A few days later the group of Apaches surrendered to Colonel Carson at Ft. Stanton.  The last group of Apaches was finally defeated and driven from Dog Canyon in 1881.  You can read more about the ambushes at Dog Canyon at this link.

Fortunately now a days no one has to worry about getting ambushed in Dog Canyon.  As I crossed The Eyebrow I didn’t find myself looking up for falling boulders or bullets, but instead just admired the view back across the canyon and out towards the Tularosa Basin:

Once across The Eyebrow the trail begins ascending again which provided this good view of how the Apaches were able to roll boulders and shoot down on anyone trying to cross the trail that follows the base of the massive cliff face:

The trail just continued to be all up hill after The Eyebrow and fully exposed to the sunshine.  It was March when I conducted this hike and the constant hill climbing combined with direct sunlight made me quite hot and I consumed a lot of water.  I can only imagine how hot this trail would be to conduct in the summer time.  Fortunately up ahead I could eventually see the tree line approaching that would at least finally give me some shade:

I began to hit the first small pinon trees at the 4 mile marker:

Besides pinon trees I began to see little plants like this one here that I’m not sure what it is:

As I continued up the trail more and more trees became visible:

At the 4.5 mile marker I was rewarded with a nice view of the upper heavily forested heights of the Sacramento Mountains:

I then proceeded to walk into a pleasant grassy valley that had the occasional pine tree to provide some shade from the sun:

He is a cactus that I noticed that had some how found enough dirt that had blown into the cracks of this rock to sustain itself with and actually grow to quite a large size:

Towards the end of the valley the trail enters a heavily wooded area:

Before entering the wood line though I passed a small dam that was made probably at some point as a watering hole for cattle:

I have no idea if cattle are still allowed to graze up here but I saw no evidence of any cattle any where during the hike.  Anyway at the 5 mile mark is when I entered the tree line that consisted mostly of large pinon and juniper trees:

The last half mile of the trail is a steep switchbackign ascent up into the higher reaches of the mountains:

Finally at the 5.5 mile mark is when I came to the upper trailhead of the Dog Canyon Trail:

The trailhead is accessed by a 4 wheel drive road that can either be used to drop off or pick up hikers using the trail:

Since I didn’t have any ride waiting for me that meant I had to turn around and walk another 5.5 miles back to the Oliver Lee Memorial State Park where I parked my truck.  From the top of trail I was rewarded with views like this of the Tularosa Basin down below:

I also had a partial view of the White Sands National Monument as well:

With views like this accompanying all the way down the mountain at I didn’t mind having to walk another 5.5 miles to complete this hike.

Next Posting: Dog Canyon, New Mexico – Part 3