Trip report July 2005 by Richard L. Carey.
Summerford Mountain is northeast of Las Cruces and is one of two peaks with the same spot elevation which are the highpoints of the Dona Ana Mountains.
Summerford is the northerly of the two peaks, the other being Dona Ana Peak, also 5835 ft., which is 4.5 miles to the south.
Getting to the peak: Take highway 70 east of Interstate 25 in Las Cruces and exit after about 5 miles near a McDonalds on the north side. I don’t recall the name of the exit, but in this area take a frontage road on the north side of route 70 and head west from the McDonalds and look for North Jornado Road. From the frontage road note the following mileages: At 3.7 miles cross a cattle guard and continue north. At 6.2 miles there is a sign on the left for the Chihuahua Desert Nature Park. At 6.6 miles go left at a gate for the Jornada Experimental Range. Go west along the fence and at 7.6 miles go right at a toilet at the Chihuahua Park boundary. At 9.2 miles close to power lines there is a gate in an east-west fence that was not locked. Reset odometer here and go through the gate heading north. At 0.55 miles go right and at 1.7 miles go straight. At 3.1 and again at 3.7 miles go left. You will be now heading south. In about 100 ft.
after the last turn along the power lines, go right on a four-wheel drive road. At 4.5 miles there is a gate for the New Mexico State Ranch. The gate was not locked, but if you don’t want to drive in you can park here and hike.
Hike: From the gate hike northwest along the road and then leave it and head toward the mountain. The mountain is steep and has lots of boulders with beavertail, yucca and ocotillo cactus in abundance. The highpoint is on the west end after some scrambling. From the gate the hike would be 2.6 miles round-trip with a gain of 1100 ft.
Maps: Summerford Mountain, 1:24,000 scale topo map, 1982. The Dona Ana map is also helpful for the approach drive.