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Places to go in New Mexico.

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3 places

Carlsbad Caverns National Park Caves

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Carlsbad, NM · Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert

Carlsbad Caverns drops visitors into a hidden world beneath the New Mexico desert, where a self-guided trail winds through the Big Room, the largest single cave chamber in North America at over 8 acres. Stalagmites, soaring columns, and delicate formations fill the dim, cool dark. From spring through October, hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats spiral out of the natural entrance at dusk in one of the country's great wildlife spectacles.

White Sands National Park Canyons & deserts

White Sands National Park

Alamogordo, NM · Tularosa Basin, Southern New Mexico

White Sands National Park near Alamogordo, New Mexico, protects the world's largest gypsum dune field, 275 square miles of blinding-white sand that stays cool underfoot even in the desert heat. Drive the eight-mile Dunes Drive into the heart of it, then sled the slopes on a waxed disc or hike the marked Alkali Flat Trail across an ancient lakebed. Time a ranger-led sunset stroll, when the dunes glow pink against the San Andres Mountains.

Bisti / De-Na-Zin Wilderness Canyons & deserts

Bisti / De-Na-Zin Wilderness

Farmington, NM · San Juan Basin, Northwest New Mexico

Bisti is 45,000 acres of eroded Cretaceous mudstone, coal seam and sandstone with nothing built on it. No trail, no sign, no water. From the dirt lot you walk east into Alamo Wash, a wide sand bottom, and the badlands assemble around you: hoodoos capped with dark stone, the Cracked Eggs about two miles in, petrified logs lying where they fell, hills banded gray, cream and rust. The Stone Wings sit in the northern half, reached from a separate north lot rather than this one. Everything looks alike at eye level, so a GPS pin on your car matters more than a map. Access is free, no permit, open year round. From Farmington go 36 miles south on NM 371, then east on County Road 7297 two miles to a T and a mile north. BLM recommends high clearance; the clay turns impassable wet, and washes flash flood. Vault toilet, no water, no summer shade. Carry several liters.