The Canyon Creek Mountains are a short long, mountain range located in southeast Catron County, New Mexico near the source of the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

and north of the Gila Wilderness. The Elk Mountains are adjacent northwest, where the continental divide passes from north to east on the south of the

Plains of San Agustin The Plains of San Agustin (sometimes listed as the Plains of San Augustin) is a region in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico in the San Agustin Basin, south of U.S. Highway 60. The area spans Catron and Socorro Counties, about 50 miles ...

Description

The range is short, only about 10 mi long, trends southwest to northeast, and merges into the eastern end of the Elk Mountains, which trend northwesterly to meet the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. There are only two prominent peaks; in the southeast, and away from the main ridgeline, lies Cooney Point, at . The highest point of the range is in the northeast at East Elk Peak, . The peak is located at .East Elk Summit, mountainzone
/ref>

Continental Divide

The

undergoes an east-west stretch northwest of the mountains, and northwest of the adjacent Elk Mountains. Forest Road 30 lies north of East Elk Peak, crosses the divide twice north of the Elk Mountains, then parallels the divide as it traverses through the

Tularosa Mountains Tularosa is a villageFor census purposes it is called a village, but in New Mexico it is historically called a town. See, for example, Otero, Miguel A. (1903) ''Report of the Governor of New Mexico to the Secretary of the Interior - 1903'' Governme ...

. Forest Road 30 terminates at Apache Creek, NM and intersects with State Roads 12 and 32.

References

External links

East Elk Mountain Summit, mountainzone.com (coordinates)
Landforms of Catron County, New Mexico Mountain ranges of New Mexico {{NewMexico-geo-stub