Big Hatchet Peak is one of New Mexico’s premier summits by just about any metric. It’s one of the top ten peaks in the state by prominence (it sits at eighth place), and barely misses out on being the Hidalgo County highpoint by just a couple hundred feet. It is a physically beautiful peak and range, an uplifted range fronted on its west by sheer cliffs and on its east by steep grassy slopes, cliffs and numerous canyons. Its profile is one of the more unique and memorable ones I have seen: a sloping ridge leading to a distinct point reminiscent, presumably, of a big hatchet. To add flavor, the summit and range are remote from the main highways down in the bootheel of the state, ensuring very little visitation, while the lands themselves are a checkerboard of state and BLM, ensuring no access restrictions. Combine all this together and Big Hatchet is quite a destination!

I’ve known about Big Hatchet for years, ever since I wondered about that big hatchet-y shaped peak way off in the southern horizon while traveling along Interstate-10 between Lordsburg and Deming in southwest New Mexico. For all I knew it looked far enough to be in Mexico, which isn‘t far from the truth! At some point I placed it on my want-to-do list, although the logistics of distance, remoteness and route information meant that it would have to be better planned than just a weekend quickie, and preferably, I would want to go along with someone for safety’s sake. For a long time I was pre-occupied with the other big peak in the bootheel, Animas Peak, the county highpoint. Animas, as we all know by now, sits on a huge ranch that allows no visitation. At the time I wanted it for its county highpoint status. Then, somehow the magic happened and the Animas “itch” was “scratched”, euphemistically speaking, sometime around early 04. Then in time my interests grew to prominence peaks and all of a sudden old Big Hatchet was in my sights again. The only practical time for me to get down there would be on my winter break from teaching. I tried for it over 2006-07 but couldn’t get the time away. This time around I was able to hook up with James Wedekind, a climber from Las Cruces who also sought to climb the peak. We made plans to go for it just before the Christmas holiday, weather permitting. It was supposed to be part of a larger holiday trip with my wife Beth, where we’d be going up to the Faywood Hot Springs afterwards, but James let us know they’re closed for awhile, so… anyway, it was just going to be James and me for the hike. I left Chandler on the 19th and made the 230-mile drive to Lordsburg, arriving in mid-afternoon. I stayed the night at a budget motel and ate meatloaf at a truck stop restaurant that night. Basically, living it up in Lordsburg.

James rolled in before 6 a.m. the next morning and we drove to Big Hatchet in my truck from Lordsburg, heading south to the town of Hachita and south some more toward Antelope Wells on highway NM-81. Following pre-published directions, we followed NM-81 about 10 miles to a hard-left onto a dirt road marked by a Big Hatchet BLM sign, then followed the dirt roads mostly south and east along the “public lands access” route for 11.2 miles to the spur road to Thompson Canyon, basically on the range’s east slopes and due east of the summit. For the record, the topographical maps from 1982 are a bit out of date regarding the roads, but the signs are useful. The roads are bumpy but not too bad. The only trouble I had was dealing with the sunrise, which blinded me enough that we had to wait a few minutes to let it rise some more to reduce the frontal glare. Anyway, at the Thompson Canyon spur, I followed the lesser-quality road a few feet to a downed windmill, then past that up the rocky road (4-wheel drive needed here, definitely) for about two miles to a water tank at the mouth of Thompson Canyon (map). I decided to park here because there was some open flat space to pull out and turn around, plus we were well within the canyon and out of view, for what it’s worth. In any case, as we found out a few minutes later, the road is washed out a few yards further. An ATV might get past the damage, but my truck would have high-centered on the crud. It was about 8:30 when we finally parked and got our packs in order. By 8:45 we were starting in on our hike. The weather was quite cold in the shadows but sunny, and with indication we were in for a beautiful afternoon.

We walked the road about a mile and a half to its terminus (map), then found a good path that immediately dropped into a ravine, then steeply up the opposite bank and onto a small grassy slope. The path was well-defined and we followed it in and out of the ravine a few times until it finally started up the slopes in earnest. On the map there are two canyons that 'start' at the end of the road - we followed the one that trended more south than west at first. The trail - rocky, loose but very well-defined and easy to follow - lead us up steeply to a small promontory at about elevation 6,430 feet (map). So far so good - we had gained over 1,200 feet in maybe an hour. We both took a break here to eat and drink, and check our position on the map. The third photo at left shows James nearing a distinctive leaning boulder on the trail leading to this first rest-stop. As you can see, the slopes is mostly open with lots of grass, some cactus and plenty of agave. Rule number one: don't ever fall into an agave.

From our rest stop we continued on the fine trail (much better than we were expecting, by the way). The trail worked through a little stand of juniper and small fir, and even through some scant snow patches left over from a storm from about 10 days ago. After that, it re-emerged back into the open, started up another drainage in a mostly west direction. The trail then crossed onto the other slopes about here (map). From here to the next major saddle (map), the trail was easy to follow but steep. James got ahead of me a bit, but I made good time and we met again at this major saddle, elevation about 7,300 feet. Here we took another break. We were making great time - it wasn't even two hours into the hike. And so far, the weather had been spectacular. No clouds as far as we could see. Even at this vantage we had some outstanding views back down into the canyon we just came up, plus down onto the valleys below to the west. Once we rested up again, we got moving.

From here to the summit is about a mile and another thousand feet of elevation gain. The trail petered out here, so we had to wing it, which wasn't difficult. The plan is to gain an obvious ridge that angles northwest to southeast on the map, then turn left, walk it up and then on to the top. To get to the ridge we made our own trails through the brush, loose rock and rock bands to this ridge. This was probably the slowest part of the hike, but even then it wasn't difficult. I just had to watch the loose rock, the bane of my existence. Once we gained this ridge we hiked it up to an obvious "point in the sky", which corresponded to about here on the map and to about where James is standing in the fourth photo at left. Finally we had our first views of the summit and the sloping terrain leading up to it, plus the cliffs that drop off to the west. As an aside, I found that this section went by very quickly - I gauged our upward gain by comparing ourselves to a small peak just south of the main saddle, which extrapolates to an elevation of 7,500 feet on the map. While the going was sometimes steep and scrambly, every time I looked back at that peak it seemed like we were up another hundred feet - that felt good.

Once on the main ridge it was an easy stroll to the summit. We kind of worked up and down some intervening knobs, while James also placed a geocache in a nearby tree for future visitors. While he had been ahead of me all day on the hike, I passed him up at this point and beat him to the top by a few steps. The summit has a solar-power apparatus on top for some reason, while the actual highpoint is marked by a cairn with a register. We signed in and read off the names of previous visitors. It seems the peak sees about 20-30 climbers a year. We also took the time to pick out the other peaks in our viewshed. The Alamo Hueco Range was off to our southeast - the last American range before Mexico starts. The clear skies and low humidity made for perfect conditions - we could make out ranges as far off as Texas and well into Mexico. Animas and the Chiricahuas were the biggies to the west.

We spent about 15 minutes up top, then began our descent. The downhill went quickly, and the trail on the lower two-thirds really made a difference in our progress. I think we were out to my truck in less than two hours total! The loose rock did cause some sliding and stumbling but other than that, no problems at all. It was a fun, quick downhill hike! It was just a bit before three p.m. when we arrived back to my truck, where we changed into drier clothes and started the slow drive out back to Lordsburg. By the time we were back in town and at James' car, it was dusky and getting very cold. We loaded up James' stuff and he went on his way to camp for a hike up Burro peak the next day, while I drove my weary bones to the same cheapo motel I stayed at the previous night, and got me a room again. The highlight was a dinner at El Charro, a Mexican-food place on the main drag and apart from the gas stations. The locals were all there so I figured it was probably a good place. The food was good, cheaply priced. The service was something else, though. I can't complain, I guess.

The next day a storm front blew in and I had rain and hail/graupel mix while driving through Safford and Globe. I was home by about 4 p.m. in the afternoon. In all a very successful trip! My thanks to James for great camaraderie and trailblazing.

So... what's the better peak? Big Hatchet or Animas? No question about it - Big Hatchet beats Animas in every category: beauty, interest, trail quality, ease of access. Animas is nice in a general sort of way. Big Hatchet is outstanding. Animas is interesting for one thing only - the county highpoint. Unless you need to have all the county highpoints in New Mexico, I'd say give Animas a miss and head toward Big Hatchet. Of course, I do understand if you do in fact need all the county highpoints. I am a recovering 'all-or-nothing' guy myself. Great hobby, highpointing!

The last photo at left is the Rest Stop at Hachita. It's a unisex bathroom with great views!