Roadtrip – Best Places to Visit in New Mexico, US
Best Places to Visit in New Mexico:
Echo Amphitheater.
Echo Amphitheater is a natural amphitheater located in the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. It is about 4 mi (6.4 km) north-northwest of the Ghost Ranch.
Inn of the Mountain Gods in Mescalero.
Mescalero is a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, located on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.
Mescalero Apache is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan Native Americans.
The settlement was originally called Blazer’s Mill, the location of a famous gunfight during the Lincoln County War.
The Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino is located in Mescalero. Owned and operated by the Mescalero Apache tribe. It is 7 miles from the Hubbard Museum of the American West and 11 miles from the Ski Apache resort.
White Sands National Park.
White Sands National Park is an American national park located in the state of New Mexico and completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range. The park covers 145,762 acres (227.8 sq mi) in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a 275 sq mi field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals.
This gypsum dunefield is the largest of its kind on Earth, with a depth of about 30 feet (9.1 m), dunes as tall as 60 feet (18 m), and about 4.5 billion short tons (4.1 billion metric tons) of gypsum sand.
Approximately 12,000 years ago, the land within the Tularosa Basin featured large lakes, streams, grasslands, and Ice Age mammals. As the climate warmed, rain and snowmelt dissolved gypsum from the surrounding mountains and carried it into the basin. Further warming and drying caused the lakes to evaporate and form selenite crystals. Strong winds then broke up crystals and transported them eastward. A similar process continues to produce gypsum sand today.
Thousands of species of animal inhabit the park, a large portion of which are invertebrates. Several animal species feature a white or off-white coloration. At least 45 species are endemic, living only in this park, with 40 of them being moth species. The Tularosa Basin has also seen a number of human inhabitants, from Paleo-Indians 12,000 years ago to modern farmers, ranchers, and miners.
White Sands National Park was originally designated White Sands National Monument on January 18, 1933 by President Herbert Hoover; it was redesignated as a national park by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 20, 2019.
It is the most visited NPS site in New Mexico. The park features a drive from the visitor center to the heart of the dunes, picnic areas, backcountry campground in the dunefield, marked hiking trails, and sledding on the dunes. Ranger-guided orientation and nature walks occur at various times and months throughout the year.
Video Source: Traveling with Emily Up & Down the Wild West #innofthemountaingod#WhiteSandsNationalMonument from Filipina Desert Gardener on Youtube ⁄ CC BY
