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 miles (16 km) southeast of the community of Alamogordo.

Sacramento Peak, at 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 miles (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