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Ian Sidden

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Organ Mountains

May 29, 2014 By Ian Sidden

Photo of Organ Mountains at sunset

Organ Mountains at sunset. Photo by Amy Bowman

The first time I drove to Las Cruces, I drove east out of Tucson on I-10. Anyone who’s made this trip knows that once you’re about an hour outside of Tucson past Texas Canyon, the ground levels out, and you are in a wide expanse of desert with very little in the way of human civilization.

Short mountain ranges speckle the horizon. The Sonoran Desert transitions into the Chihuahua Desert. The altitude gradually climbs. The empty physical space allows an empty mental space, and it can be incredibly relaxing if you’re not in a rush.

For a stressed and tired driver though, the desert between Lordsburg and Las Cruces can be maddeningly vast and repetitive. Yellow brown stretches in every direction for miles, and the distance to the various mountains masks the driver’s speed.

Nevertheless when I reached Las Cruces the first time, I knew it. The road dipped, the highway embankments rose upward, and then — boom —  there it was.

Las Cruces sits in a valley caused by the Rio Grande rift, and coming from the west, a driver descends into the city. If he arrives at night, he will be treated to the city twinkling under the desert sky. There’s farmland on the west beside the river, which gives the impression of an oasis, and then the city sits beyond that.

Organ Mountains in background, with Charlotte the dog

Organ Mountains in background, with Charlotte the dog. Photo by Ian Sidden.

Beyond the city are the Organ Mountains, and in that first glimpse, they shaped so much of what Las Cruces means to me. They tower over both the city and even the western side of the valley to such a degree that an approaching driver doesn’t realize the presence of the valley at all since the Organs are visible from a great distance. Their actual height is only apparent once in the valley.

The Organs are such a dominant feature, that they appear in many of my outdoor photos of Las Cruces quite by accident. The peaks rise out of the east in Las Cruces in what appear to be narrow bands as if some giant had drug its fingers through the rock at their creation. This feature makes their appearance unlike nearly any other of the so-called “sky island” mountain ranges of the American southwest and is a reason for the range’s name (resembling a pipe organ and all).

With their proximity to the city, the Organs are also a beloved recreation spot. My wife and I have been on numerous hikes within and in the vicinity of the Organs. We’ve listened to the coyotes howl in the foothills. We had some of our wedding photos taken with the Organs as the backdrop. Besides their stunning beauty, there are little bits of history tucked away against the rocks. Old settlements that have been abandoned are now places to visit and learn about the history of the area.

Soledad Canyon in Organ Mountain foothills

Soledad Canyon in Organ Mountain foothills. Photo by Ian Sidden

The Organs have recently been in the news due to President Obama’s declaration of them as a national monument. This will offer the area new protections to preserve its natural beauty and rich historical and scientific resources. Citing some of those resources:

The area is home to a high diversity of animal life, including deer, pronghorn antelope, mountain lions, peregrine falcons and other raptors as well as rare plants, some found nowhere else in the world, such as the Organ Mountains pincushion cactus. Hundreds of  archeologically and culturally significant sites are found within the new monument, including some limited Paleo-Indian artifacts, extensive rock art sites and the ruins of a ten room pueblo, among other ancient dwellings. More recent history is memorialized with Geronimo’s Cave, Billy the Kid’s Outlaw Rock, and sites related to early Spanish explorers. The Organ and Doña Ana Mountains are popular recreation areas, with multiple hiking trails, a popular campground, and opportunities for hunting, mountain biking, rock climbing, and other recreation.

Congratulations, Las Cruces and southern New Mexico. The Organs are a fundamental and wonderful part of the experience there, and I’m so happy that they’re getting national attention and protection they deserve.

Filed Under: The Rest of Life Tagged With: Las Cruces, New Mexico, Organ Mountains

Endeavor Fly Over

September 20, 2012 By Ian Sidden

 

The population of Tucson was thrilled that space shuttle Endeavor flew over today.

Likewise, in my regular home of Las Cruces, the small city was similarly blessed with a greeting after its fly-over of the White Sands Missile Range. Shortly after my girlfriend texted me to say that she’d seen it over LC and that her students were super excited to have witnessed it, the folks around me in Tucson started hollering “There it is!”

And there it was, softly humming and coasting over the Sam Hughes neighborhood as it passed over the mall at the University of Arizona. The whole event from my vantage lasted 15 seconds. But at the end, all of us who were there just smiled , looked around and said “Cool.”

It’s days like this that make me feel really lucky. There’s been a lot of those recently.

Filed Under: The Rest of Life Tagged With: Las Cruces, Space shuttle, Tucson

Snow Everywhere!

February 2, 2011 By Ian Sidden

This morning I woke up to this:

Hmm. This is around the fourth snow storm in 2 weeks or so. I moved to Pennsylvania last summer, and while there is still some novelty to snow storms I do miss the beautiful blue skies of the Southwest.

So I checked the weather in Las Cruces, NM to see how much better they had it today. I am flying there next week for Le nozze di Figaro after all:

!!!

!!!

It’s rare for snow storms to happen down there, and the general consensus from my Las Cruces Facebook friends is that the novelty is still very real for them. Everyone has a snow day!

But I am so ready for blue skies. I’m very excited to be going back and grateful that Monday looks like a normal southwestern winter day.

Filed Under: The Rest of Life Tagged With: Las Cruces, Le nozze di Figaro, Pennsylvania, Weather

Die schöne Müllerin this Weekend

April 12, 2010 By Ian Sidden

Schubert_Flier002

This weekend, PhoebeJoy Wong and I will be performing Franz Schubert’s gorgeous and moving Die schöne Müllerin at the Branigan Cultural Center in downtown Las Cruces.

Map picture

The music begins at 2:00 PM, but PhoebeJoy will deliver a presentation on the cycle if you are inclined to learn more. The performance is free but we’ll be accepting donations if we earn it and you’re feeling generous.

RSVP to our Schubertiade Facebook event if you like, and we hope to see you there!

Filed Under: My News Tagged With: Branigan Cultural Center, Die Schöne Müllerin, Franz Schubert, Las Cruces, PhoebeJoy Wong, Schubertiade

An Evening of Music

June 27, 2009 By Ian Sidden

Flyer for concert

Flyer for concert

There’s a performance tonight at the Rio Grande Theater here in Las Cruces, which features the music of Jan Scarbrough. She collaborated with local playwright and director Mark Medoff to produce a number of musicals, most notably “Rock Wedding”. It will be a fun show!

Filed Under: My News Tagged With: Ashley Foster, Diane Shutz, Ian Sidden, Jan Scarbrough, Jessica Medoff Bunchman, Las Cruces, Mark Medoff, New Mexico, Rio Grande Theater

About Ian

Ian Sidden is currently a baritone member of the Theater Dortmund Opera chorus. Read More…

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