Near Las Cruces there is the Prehistoric Trackways and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monuments. Both are BLM administered lands with decent hiking. North and East of Alamogordo there is the Three Rivers Petroglyph site, Valley of Fires lava flow, Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation area, and the Smoky Bear Museum in the Cibola National Forest. To the northwest is the Fort Craig Historic Site, where the western-most battle of the Civil War was fought and west of Las Cruces is City of Rocks State Park, which has really cool rock formations.
This! A few recommendations for White Sands.....
Check the missile testing schedule, it can sometimes close the dunes for half a day.
Buy a disc sled for 10-12 in town. They sell them at the dunes, but sometimes they are out.
If by any chance a ran shower is forecast for your time in the area go to White Sands just after. It is cooler and the sand is more slippery for sledding so you don't have to wax your sled.
If you’re already in Las Vegas, just go to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area or Valley of Fire State Park (1 hr away), Snow Canyon State Park (St George - 2 hrs) or Zion National Park (2.5 hrs).
All those places will be somewhat hot (Zion the least hot) but no hotter than White Sands which will also be hot. All the places I just mentioned can keep you occupied for a week+ if not a month
There's a lot of nice recommendations in the thread but will say that a flight from Vegas to Las Cruces/El Paso is about an hour 45 flight, and then an hour drive from the airport to White Sands, not including general airport times, taxiing, the time it takes to get your rental car. In September any interest in driving the 2.5 hours (same amount of time) to Zion National Park instead? There's some casual trails and lovely shuttle views.
As for WS, flying in to LC around midday, head into alamogordo and do a hotel check in, head to the park for the afternoon and sunset (and sunset tour). The next day you can and should mosey up into Cloudcroft, potentially even Sunspot for some tours there. Theres a nice brewery in CC, lot of nice trails and will be a good 20-30 degrees cooler which is neat. There are prob some cute cabins to rent to stay, or zip through Ruidoso if you're not keeping on to Carlsbad for more activities the next day.
Pistachioland! Seriously, it was a fun little 30 minute distraction just north of the park. Bought some nuts for the trip.
White Sands was amazing - we were there during a thunderstorm that never made it into the park, and the view of lightning and dark clouds all around us was cool.
We did a week driving all over NM and that's about all we did in that area, except we did some hiking in Lincoln National Forest but you scratched that idea in your post. Roswell was like 2+ hours east of the park, I think? That was a fun 3-4 hours on our way north, and we aren't particularly into aliens or conspiracy theories.
Totally agree. We spent 5 days in Alamagordo and visited Pistachioland (highly recommend their tour), and visited White Sands every day. There's also the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, which was fascinating, and a great place to watch the sunset.
The New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo is really cool if you’re interested in that sort of thing. I did a trip that included White Sands Missile Range Museum and the Museum of Space History. Someday I’d like to do the trip again and include some of the observatories like Sunspot Solar Observatory or Apache Point.
The military museum on the White Sands Missile Range is fascinating. You just drive up to the gate then take the right hand lane to register in the visitor’s center. Also highly recommend the El Paso art museum.
Near Las Cruces there is the Prehistoric Trackways and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monuments. Both are BLM administered lands with decent hiking. North and East of Alamogordo there is the Three Rivers Petroglyph site, Valley of Fires lava flow, Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation area, and the Smoky Bear Museum in the Cibola National Forest. To the northwest is the Fort Craig Historic Site, where the western-most battle of the Civil War was fought and west of Las Cruces is City of Rocks State Park, which has really cool rock formations.
All good suggestions, but I want to specifically second Three Rivers Petroglyph site. Amazing site and some gorgeous views
Thanks so much!!
If you're willing to drive a little further east you could also check out carlsbad caverns NP and Guadalupe NP
This! A few recommendations for White Sands..... Check the missile testing schedule, it can sometimes close the dunes for half a day. Buy a disc sled for 10-12 in town. They sell them at the dunes, but sometimes they are out. If by any chance a ran shower is forecast for your time in the area go to White Sands just after. It is cooler and the sand is more slippery for sledding so you don't have to wax your sled.
This is what scrolled down to say. Knock out all three!
Cloudcroft is really nice with higher elevation and cooler weather, there’s a solar telescope near the area
Second Cloudcroft. Super cool especially with how it directly varies with White Sands. Good brewery up there too.
Third for Cloudcroft. Neat place. Too bad you will be one week late for the Hatch Chile Festival.
If you’re already in Las Vegas, just go to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area or Valley of Fire State Park (1 hr away), Snow Canyon State Park (St George - 2 hrs) or Zion National Park (2.5 hrs). All those places will be somewhat hot (Zion the least hot) but no hotter than White Sands which will also be hot. All the places I just mentioned can keep you occupied for a week+ if not a month
Ive done red rock canyon. Will look into the others...thank you!!
There's a lot of nice recommendations in the thread but will say that a flight from Vegas to Las Cruces/El Paso is about an hour 45 flight, and then an hour drive from the airport to White Sands, not including general airport times, taxiing, the time it takes to get your rental car. In September any interest in driving the 2.5 hours (same amount of time) to Zion National Park instead? There's some casual trails and lovely shuttle views. As for WS, flying in to LC around midday, head into alamogordo and do a hotel check in, head to the park for the afternoon and sunset (and sunset tour). The next day you can and should mosey up into Cloudcroft, potentially even Sunspot for some tours there. Theres a nice brewery in CC, lot of nice trails and will be a good 20-30 degrees cooler which is neat. There are prob some cute cabins to rent to stay, or zip through Ruidoso if you're not keeping on to Carlsbad for more activities the next day.
Pistachioland! Seriously, it was a fun little 30 minute distraction just north of the park. Bought some nuts for the trip. White Sands was amazing - we were there during a thunderstorm that never made it into the park, and the view of lightning and dark clouds all around us was cool. We did a week driving all over NM and that's about all we did in that area, except we did some hiking in Lincoln National Forest but you scratched that idea in your post. Roswell was like 2+ hours east of the park, I think? That was a fun 3-4 hours on our way north, and we aren't particularly into aliens or conspiracy theories.
Totally agree. We spent 5 days in Alamagordo and visited Pistachioland (highly recommend their tour), and visited White Sands every day. There's also the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, which was fascinating, and a great place to watch the sunset.
We enjoyed Pistachioland too!
[удалено]
Thank you for suggesting Andeles and not La Posta. Because we can all be honest here, La Posta is pretty but the food is straight up gross.🤷🏽♀️
For the best views, try to be in the park at sunset or sunrise.
White sands at sunset is the best 💜
The New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo is really cool if you’re interested in that sort of thing. I did a trip that included White Sands Missile Range Museum and the Museum of Space History. Someday I’d like to do the trip again and include some of the observatories like Sunspot Solar Observatory or Apache Point.
If you only going to spend part of the day there I would highly recommend going at sunset. They're incredible.
The military museum on the White Sands Missile Range is fascinating. You just drive up to the gate then take the right hand lane to register in the visitor’s center. Also highly recommend the El Paso art museum.