Cathey Peak

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Cathey Peak
Elevation	9,645 ft (2,940 m)[1]
Location	Otero County, New Mexico, United States
Range	Sacramento Mountains
Coordinates	32°48′27″N, 105°47′59″W[1]
Topo map	USGS Sacramento Peak (NM)
Easiest route	road

Cathey Peak is the highest peak in the Sacramento Mountains, in the south-central part of the US State of New Mexico. It lies in Otero County, 10 mi (16 km) southeast of Alamogordo.

Sacramento Peak, 9,255 ft (2,821 m) is a nearby subpeak of Cathey Peak, and is more widely known, due to the presence of several observatories on or near its summit. It is located at 32°47′16″N, 105°49′13″W, 1.6 mi (2.6 km) southwest of Cathey Peak, and has a topographic prominence of approximately 115 ft (35 m).^[1] One of the two locations of the National Solar Observatory is on the summit itself, and the small town of Sunspot is less than one-half mile (0.8 km) to the northeast. The Apache Point Observatory is located on a promontory about one-half mile south of the summit,^[2] and a cosmic ray observatory lies just over a mile to the northeast.

Both peaks lie on the high western crest of the Sacramento Mountains, and hence have gentle, forested eastern slopes, and a steep, high escarpment to the west, descending to the Tularosa Basin. Both peaks can be accessed using New Mexico Scenic Byway 6563 from Cloudcroft.

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Cathey Peak and Sacramento Peak on Topozone
2. ^ Apache Point Observatory Homepage

[edit] External links

• Maps and aerial photos
  • WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image from TerraServer-USA
  • Surrounding area map from Google Maps
  • Location in the United States from the Census Bureau