NM09 Southern New Mexico

Nestled in the hills and mountains, deep in what looks like desert badlands, Southern New Mexico lays claim to some of the most diverse and interesting places in the world — including mysterious Roswell. The adventurous and outdoorsy types revel in the hiking, caving, fishing, biking, camping, shopping, dining, skiing — yes, skiing — south of Interstate 40. Following are only a few destinations to consider for a road trip.

Alamogordo/Cloudcroft »
Carlsbad »
Deming »
Las Cruses »
Roswell »
Ruidoso »
Silver City »
Socorro »
Truth or Consequences »

Alamogordo and Cloudcroft

Near Alamogordo, White Sands National Monument is a 275-square-mile sandbox of stark-white gypsum dunes. The entire family enjoys sliding down on sleds and even flattened cardboard boxes, and hikers enjoy the solitude and specialized life-forms that have adapted to life in this area. Photographers revel amid the incredible image opportunities, and chances are you’ve already seen White Sands in any number of movies and commercials. Don’t miss the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, and learn about this area’s important historic and continuing contribution to space exploration. Although nearby, Cloudcroft seems a world away at 8,668 feet above sea level and surrounded by thick forest. This quaint town, formerly supported by logging, is now home to many artists and several nearby astronomical facilities attracted by the high altitude and clear skies, including the National Solar Observatory. Also, the Rim Trail here is 17 miles of pure bliss — especially for mountain bikers. Ranked in the top 10 and renowned as one of the nation’s best mountain biking paths, the Rim Trail in Lincoln National Forest offers an intermediate rocky single-track route with several rises between 100 and 300 feet. Bikers can enjoy views clear to White Sands during the first two miles. Access the trail just south of Ruidoso, off Highway 130.

Carlsbad

Descend more than a mile into Carlsbad Caverns National Park to explore caverns with names such as Hall of the White Giant filled with fantastic features of stalagmites, stalactites, cave pearls, and other wonders of millions of years of sulfuric acid erosion. For the even more adventurous, don a hard hat and follow rangers through “wild” caves, such as Spider Cave. Of course Carlsbad is more than a hole in the ground. Make sure to explore Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park and the shopping and restaurants in town to see what’s happening above ground.

Deming

A great home base for exploring two of Southern New Mexico’s most interesting areas (especially for rock lovers), the city of Deming is quaint in its own right, with the excellent Deming Luna Mimbres Museum displaying artifacts revealing the area’s history; it includes an impressive collection of Mimbres pottery.

Like a giant’s personal jungle gym, the rock formations at City of Rocks State Park pull visitors from their vehicles, inviting the child inside to scramble among the massive boulders and towers, challenging the spriest of the lot to climb to the top of the tallest rocks for a better look at the panoramic view. Surrounded by ranches and grassland, the park offers modern facilities. Squat junipers offer shade for the picnic tables scattered throughout the park. Shards of pottery and arrowheads continue to be unearthed, and etchings in the rocks give evidence of the conquistadors who may not have found their City of Gold but did find time to sojourn in this City of Rocks. The night sky here is an astronomer’s dream.

If you’d like to take home rocks, visit Rockhound State Park. This is one park that encourages you to get your hands dirty — and fill your pockets with its loot. It’s not often that rangers encourage you to take the items that make the area worthy of recognition, but that is exactly what you’ll find only 12 miles southeast of Deming. Boasting an array of semiprecious stones and rocks, it invites a hike in search of your own rock collection. Wear a good belt; rocks get heavy in your pockets. On second thought, take a bucket and some good digging equipment; you’ll have a better chance of finding that elusive opal.

Las Cruces

New Mexico’s second-largest city offers concerts, shopping, and museums, including the Branigan Cultural Center and New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum. Nearby historyrich Mesilla and its charming historic plaza have art galleries, cafés, fine dining, pecan tree-lined back roads, and the ghosts of Billy the Kid and other famous and infamous characters whose boots once tread here. Put yours on and explore.

Roswell

For an out-of-this-world time, go to Roswell, known worldwide for the 1947 Roswell Incident, when the U.S. military allegedly recovered a crashed alien spaceship. Although even the streetlights in Roswell are now shaped like alien heads, the International UFO Museum describes “the incident” and other alleged UFO experiences in a professional manner. Make sure to see the Roswell Museum and Art Center and the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, showing that this attractive community is more than little green men (actually, the museum says they were gray).

Ruidoso

Ruidoso is named for the sound of gurgling water from the Río Bonito and other mountain streams teeming with fish flowing through forested mountains. In town, visitors explore shops and restaurants when they’re not skiing and snowboarding at 12,000-foot Ski Apache. It’s America’s southernmost ski area that is an enterprise of the Mescalero Apache, who have made the area home for centuries. In summer, hikers, mountain bikers, anglers, and nature lovers explore the surrounding Lincoln National Forest. At 6,900 feet above sea level, it offers a cool retreat. Motorcyclists from across the nation convene here every September for the Golden Aspen Motorcycle Rally and to see the changing fall colors.

Silver City

Gateway to the Gila Wilderness, Silver City is an artsy, bed-and-breakfast retreat and home to Western New Mexico State University. The 3.3 million-acre Gila Wilderness, America’s largest and first wilderness area, lies north of charming Silver City. Here, the the Mogollon people’s 12th century cliff ruins at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument speak to humans’ long association with the area.

Socorro

Scientists from around the globe use the Very Large Array Radio Telescope, 50 miles west of Socorro, to study distant galaxies and deep-space objects. The visually stunning site has been seen in the movie Contact and many other productions. Socorro itself has a grassy plaza lined with galleries, restaurants and microbreweries. Just east of the city is Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, a birder’s paradise.

Truth or Consequences

Although it sounds like an Old West gunslinger challenge, Truth or Consequences is actually named for the 1950s TV game show that offered publicity to any community that named itself after it. At any rate, Geronimo and his Apache warriors soaked in the healing hot springs here (Hot Springs was the town’s original name). Today, people from all over still rejuvenate in the soothing springs and enjoy all manner of water play at nearby Elephant Butte State Park, so named because the reservoir’s center island is said to resemble an elephant.