I was on a very quick four-day circuit through western New Mexico over this Labor Day weekend, the objective being a handful of county highpoints, with the Cerros de Alejandro in McKinley County first up. The Cerros de Alejandro are a small series of volcanic hills located north of the much larger Mount Taylor (itself a remnant of an ancient giant volcano) within the Cibola National Forest. Numerous little hills dot the region, sitting atop a high plateau of open grasslands and sparse stands of trees. Their summits are all close in elevation but this particular hill (named BM Alejan by the USGS) is the near-certain highpoint, and fortunately somewhat close to a poor forest road so that getting to this highpoint wouldn't be an all-day affair. I left my home early in the morning and arrived in the Milan-Grants area along Interstate-40 around 1 in the afternoon (about 300 miles of driving). The weather was holding steady (no big thunderheads) so I went for it, rather than camp as had been my default plan.

Off the interstate I followed highway NM-605 for 24 miles north to San Mateo. Actually, I bypassed San Mateo and took some side roads past Lee Ranch and slowly up a steep road (FR-456) that led up onto a plateau. The road in from here is pretty rough, but not impossible. I had a mid-sized 4-wheel drive pick-up that handled this road very nicely. A 2-wheel drive vehicle with high clearance would be fine in dry conditions. After 4 miles or so on FR-456, it turns into FR-239 at a junction. I stayed on FR-239 at all subsequent junctions. The forest cover was thick, but opened up the more north I drove. After seven more miles the road comes to a gate and a mailbox. After the gate, however, the road really deteriorates, with lots of rocks and ruts for the next six miles: I never got out of first gear the whole way in past the gate. I finally came to a junction with a dry pond and a corral to the northeast, and a road that turned off to my right (east). This road is supposedly open, but on this day it was closed. I somehow timed my arrival for the second day of elk hunting season. This may have been why they shut the road, to protect against overuse by vehicles. Not a problem, as I was close to Alejandro anyway.

Most of the final six miles on the road was on open plateau and I could see "Alejan Hill" peeking up behind a smaller foreground hill for pretty much the entire drive in. From the parking area, I walked east on the closed road (open to hikers) for about a mile, going up and over a soft rise to get past some lower foreground hills. Soon, Alejan Hill stood before me, nothing blocking our paths with destiny. I walked southeasterly cross-country through the scrub up toward a prominent and obvious northwest ridge to the summit. The hill is a mix of open grass, rock outcrops and thick stands of generic brush (madrone?). I was able to zig and zag up the hill, avoiding the brush, and quickly made the top. The top is gentle and rounded and marked by a small series of cairns and old wooden planks.

I stayed for about 20 minutes and relaxed. Mount Taylor dominates the view to the south, while other distant ranges mark the horizon. In the immediate vicinity were numerous hills similar to Alejan, and a couple of old volcanic plugs sticking up out of the plateau like big splinters. I was pleased to have knocked out on highpoint already! Soon, I headed down and ended up walking out with a group of four hunters who had walked in earlier but had no luck. The group consisted of two men, a woman and a child of about 7, all in fatigues and carrying some pretty impressive archery equipment. They were very nice and we chatted as we walked out. My round trip hike took about 90 minutes and covered four miles. It was very pleasant!

Mighty Mount Taylor to the immediate south was next on my agenda, but by the time I drove the road back out to the interstate it was nearly 5 p.m. so I decided to wait until the next morning, which was a good idea since the weather acted up a bit that evening. It turns out that I could have taken one of the side roads to Mosca Peak and a quick short hike to Mount Taylor from there, but I didn't know that at the time. It was just as well as the hike the next day went very well and was lots of fun, too. I stayed in Grants: hotels in Grants are cheap ($20 in 2000), pretty decent, but located near railroad tracks which can be bothersome.

Since my ascent, the access issue seems to have become a little less clear. The Forest Roads to the stock pond (where I drove to) are still forest roads and open to the public when the Cibola Forest people decide it's safe (the gate with mailbox I mentioned is sometimes closed seasonally). However, some people have reported new fencing in the area. Naturally, who owns it, or what is really going on, is never very clear. The land in and around Alejandro is a checkerboard of public and private. As usual, follow your gut.