McKnight Mountain is the highest point in the isolated Black Range of southwest New Mexico, a range that straddles Grant and Sierra Counties and features a handful of peaks jutting above 10,000 feet. Flanked on both sides by a very extensive network of foothills, canyons and mesas, these mountains see relatively little visitation compared to the other ranges in this part of the state. McKnight Mountain is a broad peak and is a double-summit, with the the eastern point sitting on the Grant and Sierra county line, while the western peak (about a quarter mile to the west) is fully inside Grant county; both summits are listed at 10,165 feet. The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area, the first of its kind in the United States, is located high along the ridges and summits of the Black Range, and includes McKnight Mountain.

The easiest access to McKnight Mountain seems to be from the town of Mimbres, where a forest road (FR-152) heads east into the range off of highway NM-35 at milepost 12.3, about 5 miles north of the main part of Mimbres. "Easy" is a relative term, as the road up is fairly rough and arduous. The road is marked as McKnight Road from the highway, and passes by some residences before it passes through a fence grate and onto National Forest land. It gains moderately steeply onto a mesa and for the next six miles is good hardpack. It then drops dramatically into a canyon and comes to a junction, roughly eight miles from the highway. McKnight Mountain is the left fork. At this point the road becomes considerably rougher, and high clearance 4-wheel drive is highly recommended. For the next four miles or so the road is generally littered with good sized boulders and exposed bedrock forming 'steps'. While none of it is particularly gruesome, taken as a whole this section just goes real slow and is real bumpy. Finally, it tops out at a bend and for the remaining 5 miles the road is in overall better shape, although I kept my truck in 4-wheel drive and never got out of first gear. The parking area is a cleared section way high up on the main ridge, with positively spectacular views down into the Mimbres Valley below. In many places the road is narrow and woe to him who meets a fellow traveller coming the other way; pullouts and wide areas are rare and far between, and in many places the drop-offs are heart-poundingly exposed. The drive up takes a bit over an hour.

First Visit, September 2000: I began the day in Truth or Consequences a day after knocking off Mount Taylor and South Baldy Peak. From "T or C", I headed west toward the mountains along highway NM-152, a winding paved route that forced me to take it slow (as did a guy pulling a trailer). The scenery was quite lovely. I finally came to the junction with NM-35 and drove up through Mimbres and the road to the top. I bashed and skidded my way to the trailhead, arriving around 9 a.m. in cool, somewhat unsettled conditions with blue puffy clouds already starting to assemble.

From the parking area the trail heads north in a glade of aspen and fir. It quickly ascends a small peak (around 9,800 feet elevation), then slowly descends the other side. The trail stays pretty level, contouring around some smaller bumps. It's very heavily forested and much more lush and green, as opposed to the less-dense desert peaks I had been up in the previous days. Soon, the trail gains steeply and then levels high on McKnight's west flank. A small side trail (marked) leads about 100 feet to the rocky eastern summit of McKnight Mountain. With this, I could claim Sierra County and half of Grant. The views were quite nice, mostly to the east. Aspen stands blocked any views to the west. For the western summit bump I got back on the main trail, went north another few hundred feet to a junction with Trail 82, and turned left. This trail ascended slowly then leveled. Here, I just started walking up to my right up through the trees at an old fence line until I achieved a ridge. Along the ridge I poked my way up to a point until there was no higher to go (or so I thought - I had my doubts afterwards).

Afterwards, I walked out back to my truck and bashed and skidded my way out to the main highway. From here I headed back home to Phoenix, but got stopped by the Po-leece near a small town called Buckhorn for speeding. But he was cool and only gave me a warning instead.

Second Visit, September 2004: When I came through here in 2000 I regretted not staying longer to check out the region. There is much to see in and around Silver City; in particular, the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is well worth a visit, as is poking around in Silver City, which has a cool downtown area and is home to Western New Mexico University. So Beth and I decided to make a full weekend visit to Silver City. We intended to visit McKnight Mountain, of course. It also turns out that Beth's family goes way back in Silver City and its northern suburb of Pinos Altos - her grandfather was born in Pinos Altos and a number of her relatives are buried in Silver City. For Beth this was a sort of 'family' visit as well. Also on our short list of things to do was a visit to the cliff dwellings. We figured we'd spend the rest of the time driving around and enjoying the scenery.

We left Chandler early Saturday morning and followed Interstate-10 to Lordsburg, then NM-90 north about 45 miles to Silver City, arriving about 1 p.m. The weather was very unsettled, with heavy clouds the whole way in and rain most of the day in Silver City itself. We did a driving tour of downtown and ate at Jalisco's, a Mexican food place that serves really hot food. By the next morning the storms had moved on and it was starting to be a pretty day, so we got moving and made the 30-mile drive to Mimbres and onto McKnight Road. We went in about 3 miles but hit some really slick gooey mud. The roads were still pretty sloppy from the rain. Not wanting to take any chances we decided to abort this attempt and try again tomorrow. Instead, we drove on to the Cliff Dwellings, which were awesome, and also made a drive up to Signal Peak Lookout, following a forest road to the top where we met with the guy and girl up in the lookout. They were friendly and we talked with them for awhile. There was a 'marathon' horse race also going on, and the horseys and their riders were passing through the area as well. We took photos and had an enjoyable visit.

Giving the roads a full day to dry out, we made another attempt at McKnight Mountain on Monday morning, Labor Day. The weather today was spectacularly clear and dry, and utterly beautiful. We had played our cards right, it seemed. The road in was solid and dry, and we bumped and bashed the 17 miles to the parking area, the uphill journey taking about 70 minutes. We began our hike at 9:30 a.m., and followed the same trail I took in 2000. The first summit was reached in just under an hour, and we took a 20-minute snack break here to enjoy the scenery and the millions of lady bugs. Back to the main trail we then set out to locate the second 10,165-foot peaklet.

Instead of following my steps from 2000, we decided to hike a bit further on Trail 82 to a small rise, then hike due north into the somewhat thick trees. I had my GPS but the tree cover was not likely going to allow it to get a signal. We hiked by reckoning a few hundred yards to the ridge, then westish until we topped out on a rounded rise. The trees are very thick here and we weren't sure if we were 'there', or close - the same feeling I had back in 2000. But then we found a rockpile abutting a tree, and figured this must be it. We signed in and pretty much started the hike out. Nothing to see here, for sure. The hike out to the truck went quickly, augmented by a side trip to the McKnight Cabin. I felt good knowing that I assuredly captured that elusive western summit bump. Lovable to county highpointers only.