New Mexico natural scenery · Natural scenery in New Mexico
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Natural scenery in New Mexico
Natural scenery in New Mexico
Being in the high desert, New Mexico is home to a great deal of natural beauty and a surprising variety of it; a few hours of driving can take you from red rock desert to alpine forests, or from flat grassland to sandy dunes. There's some gorgeous scenic beauty in every corner of the state, but there are some highlights.
The northwest region of the state perhaps most exemplifies the popular image of the American Southwest, with red rock mesas and stunning cliffs; really much of the same kind of scenery you can expect in Northern Arizona or Southern Utah. El Malpais National Monument, on the edge of this region, has the unusual mixture of sandstone and volcanic rock, where the remains of ancient lava flows run up against tall sandstone cliffs. The red rocks mostly vanish as one moves into the north central region (although Abiquiu is notable for some stunning red rock features), replaced largely by alpine mountain ranges. The Valles Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains is the remnant of a huge volcanic caldera that now takes the form of a vast meadow in the middle of the range. The nearby Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the state's highest mountain range and perhaps its most spectacular, with several wilderness areas, ski areas, and alpine forests and meadows.
The elevation drops off as you move into the central part of the state, with alpine forests replaced by stands of piñon and juniper, although the spectacular Sandia Mountains above Albuquerque jut above the surrounding landscape and are the most easily accessible mountain range in the state, with an aerial tramway that rises from the foothills on the edge of the city straight up to the top of the crest. Within Albuquerque proper and stretching south is a scenic bosque (cottonwood forest) along the banks of the Rio Grande, a thin wetland which provides an important wildlife corridor for this part of the world. To the northeast, the scraggly piñon and juniper forests are replacing by wide, flat grasslands at the edge of the Great Plains.
The southwest portion of the state is home to some of the most remote wilderness areas in the state; where small mountain ranges mark the meeting point between the hot Chihuahuan Desert and the piñon-juniper forests of central New Mexico. The southeastern reaches of the state are where the elevation is at its lowest in the state, and are mostly a vast, featureless plain; although there are some scattered unusual geologic features, the most spectacular being Carlsbad Caverns, a collection of vast caves that are among the most stunning in the world. Near Alamogordo is White Sands National Monument, the world's largest gypsum sand dune field and a frequent sight in the state's tourist literature.
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New Mexico Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.