The Big Hatchet Mountains are an 18 mi (29 km) long

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in southeast Hidalgo County,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, adjacent to the northern border of Chihuahua state, Mexico. The range lies just south of a westerly excursion of the

Continental Divide of the Americas The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; ) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from t ...

; it lies on the eastern perimeter of the extensive, narrow, and north–south

Playas Valley The Playas Valley is a lengthy and narrow 60-mi (97-km) long, valley located in Hidalgo County, New Mexico in the New Mexico Bootheel, Bootheel Region; the extreme south of the valley lies in Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. Playas, New Mexico is loc ...

, and is the center range of three mostly arid, low to moderate-elevation ranges that lie on the valley's east perimeter. The mountain range lies in the extreme northwest of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Description

The range is long and only about wide. It trends northwest by southeast as does the

Alamo Hueco Mountains The Alamo Hueco Mountains are a long mountain range, located in the southeast of the New Mexico Bootheel region, southeast Hidalgo County, New Mexico, adjacent to the border of Chihuahua state, Mexico. The range lies near the southern end of th ...

to the south; the

Little Hatchet Mountains Little Hatchet Mountains is a mountain range in Hidalgo and Grant Counties, New Mexico. The range trends north and south between Hatchita Valley to the east and Playas Valley The Playas Valley is a lengthy and narrow 60-mi (97-km) long, valley ...

bordering the range northwest, trend similarly, but have a more true north traverse.

Geology, ecology, and access

Geologically Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

this range is part of the

Basin and Range Province The Basin and Range Province is a vast United States physiographic region, physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and Northern Mexico, northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, charac ...

which spans much of the southwestern U.S. and parts of northern Mexico. It is a

fault-block Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relat ...

range made up of

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

and

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s.Butterfield, Mike, and Greene, Peter, ''Mike Butterfield's Guide to the Mountains of New Mexico'', New Mexico Magazine Press, 2006,

Ecologically Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

, the Big Hatchet Mountains lie near the Chihuahuan Desert and the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

, but their large relief provides many ecological niches more in keeping with the mountains to the north. Notable inhabitants include

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

raptor Raptor(s) or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of avian and non-avian dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunt ...

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of Ovis, sheep native to North America. It is named for its large Horn (anatomy), horns. A pair of horns may weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates th ...

, and

javelina Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccari ...

. The Big Hatchet Mountains are far from population centers, and have no paved road access or developed recreation sites; they therefore see little recreational activity other than long-distance hikers who are either starting or completing the

Continental Divide Trail The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (in short Continental Divide Trail, CDT) is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of between the U.S. border with Chihuahua (state), Chi ...

. However, the standard route on the peak, along the South Ridge from Thompson Canyon, is straightforward.

Highpoints

The highest peak in the range, Big Hatchet Peak, ,New Mexico, DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, p. 52-53. is at the northwest terminus of the range; the peak is located at . Zeller Peak is two miles north of Big Hatchet Peak. Another peak anchors the southeast terminus of the range, New Well Peak, at .

Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

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 ...

lies north of the Big Hatchet Mountains and traverses the northern

on its

water divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

. The

Continental Divide National Scenic Trail The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (in short Continental Divide Trail, CDT) is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of between the U.S. border with Chihuahua, Mexico and ...

(CDT) is routed through the Big Hatchets on two alternative trails, one at the center and the other in the north; also subtrails lead off in a southeasterly direction. The main traverse of the CDT exits from the southwest quarter of the range, to meet the northwest end of the

. Image:Big Hatchet Mountains.JPG, Big Hatchet Mountains from the northeast File:Sunrise Animas Mt..JPG, Sunrise on the Hatchet Mountains viewed from the southeast, on the CDT File:Big Hatchet Mountains WSA (9443330666).jpg, Example of the complex geology in the range from the Big Hatchet Mountains Wilderness Study Area

References

External links

Big Hatchet Peak at summitpost.org
(Climbing info, pictures)

* ttp://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=5301056 Big Hatchet Mountains, mountainzonebr>Greater Big Hatchet Complex
on nmwild.org {{Mountains of New Mexico Mountain ranges of New Mexico Mountain ranges of Hidalgo County, New Mexico New Mexico Bootheel Great Divide of North America