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Part 1: Scenic Alternatives to Interstate 10

Interstate 10 is the southernmost of the true cross-country expressways. West of the Mississippi River, the highway traverses the vast Texas plains and three deserts: empty, treeless terrain that’s the color of dust and seems to go on forever. As it crosses through New Mexico and Arizona, the highway skirts south of the remnants of the Rockies, running parallel to the old Southern Pacific Railroad just north of the Mexican border. It’s a fast road, with minimal grades and very few curves, which makes it a favorite of long-haul truckers.

Sightseeing vacationers might prefer one of the eight Scenic Side Trips in this section, which covers the 591-mile segment of I-10 from Van Horn, Texas, to Phoenix, Arizona. Each route leads off into the mountains that line the horizon, and on through the countryside beyond. These are some of the most beautiful back roads you’ll ever drive, and they take in some amazing attractions. Each route finishes back on I-10, where you can continue on your way, or head off on another adventure.

In this desert region, you can expect hot, mostly dry weather from spring into fall, with temperatures commonly rising well above 100 degrees. If you’re traveling between mid-June and mid-September, keep an eye on the sky; this is “monsoon” season, when warm, moist air flows north from the Gulf of California, brewing violent thunderstorms that can disrupt highway travel, but also deliver beautiful rainbows and sunsets.

Several routes have mountain segments where the road climbs as high as 9,000 feet, rising from cactus-studded desert into cool pine forest over the course of just a few dozen miles. On those roads, you might pass through several different ecosystems, each with a completely different climate, different vegetation, and different species of wildlife. These “sky islands,” as they’re called, are unique to this desert region.

Wildflowers bloom along these routes from spring through summer; the cactus blossoms in the Arizona deserts are especially lovely, and different species bloom at different times, beginning in mid-March. Autumn brings fall colors to the higher elevations and river valleys. Winter can bring snow to the high country, and sometimes road closures; check road conditions locally when in doubt. Note that some of the featured attractions on these routes are seasonal: some open only in summer, others only in winter.

The routes in this section are sequenced for drivers traveling east to west. If you are going the other way, just reverse the itinerary.

Scenic Side Trip 1

Van Horn, Texas, to Las Cruces, New Mexico

via Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands

432 miles, 9 hours 45 minutes for drive time, more for optional routes, stops, and sightseeing

To the Bat Cave, Billy the Kid! The aliens are coming!

If you’ve come barreling across Texas on Interstate 10—and many travelers do, taking advantage of the 80 mph speed limit—you will be ready for a change of pace by the time you’re within striking distance of El Paso. This seriously scenic detour will add at least 250 miles to your journey between Van Horn and Las Cruces, turning what would have been 3 more hours of highway driving into a full-day adventure that will leave you both exhausted and exhilarated.

Leaving Texas

The route begins 120 miles east of El Paso in the small ranching community of Van Horn. If you arrive at the end of the day and want to stay the night before starting this drive, consider the historic Hotel El Capitan, a nicely restored Spanish colonial-style establishment with decor dating from the 1930s.

After exiting the Interstate, follow the frontage road to Cavern Street, TX 54, and head north toward the distant hills. This is West Texas desert ranchland, classic cattle country, sparsely studded with creosote and mesquite. There are no signs to mark it, but after roughly 25 miles, all the open country you’ll see to the east of the highway belongs to Jeff Bezos, the billionaire CEO of Amazon. The visionary entrepreneur purchased 290,000 acres here, and he’s using the land as a testing ground and launch site for reusable rockets and suborbital vehicles under development by Blue Origin, his privately funded space-flight company. The long-term goal is to promote space tourism and to provide a launchpad for commercial payloads headed into space. You won’t see much indication of this activity from the highway; the project is closely guarded, and for now at least, the public isn’t allowed anywhere near the place.

Coming from the WestIf you’re coming from somewhere west of El Paso, there’s no need to go all the way to Van Horn to begin this route. Instead, you can exit I-10 at Canutillo (Exit 34), about 30 miles east of Las Cruces. Follow TX 375 through Franklin Mountains State Park until you reach US 62/180, then follow that road east to join the route. This option is not only more scenic, it’s shorter.

TX 54 merges with US 62/180 about 55 miles north of Van Horn. You are headed northeast now, straight into the heart of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, a beautiful tract of wilderness that includes 8,749-foot Guadalupe Peak, the highest in Texas. The visitors center is near the south entrance to the park, just off the highway; stop in if you’d like information about camping or hiking trails that ramble through the stunning terrain. One highlight is McKittrick Canyon, an oasis of green that contrasts sharply with the earthen hues of the surrounding desert. Cacti and wildflowers bloom in the spring; in the fall, native oaks and maples create a brilliant autumn display. There are Texas madrones here, too, rare holdovers from an ancient time when this area was a rain forest. You’ll recognize this “relict species” by it showy, peeling bark and the bright red berries that appear in the fall and winter. Early morning and late afternoon are best for roadside photos: stunning mountain views against the vast West Texas sky.

US 180, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

Texas Highlights
Hotel El Capitan100 E. Broadway, Van Horn, TX 79855(877) 283-1220thehotelelcapitan.comBlue Originblueorigin.com	Guadalupe Mountains National Park400 Pine Canyon, Salt Flat, TX 79847(915) 828-3251nps.gov/gumo

Carlsbad

Leaving Guadalupe Mountains National Park, continue northeast on US 62/180 and you’ll soon cross into New Mexico. A few miles farther, you’ll reach the turnoff for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. If you’ve never experienced the wonders of a major underground cave system, you should stop here. The caverns rank among the true wonders of the natural world, a jewel in the crown of the National Park system. The visitors center is about 7 miles back from the highway, after a beautiful drive on a very curvy road through an extension of the Guadalupe desert mountain range. Keep a sharp eye out for wildlife along this route, especially deer and pronghorn antelope.

If your time at Carlsbad Caverns is limited, head straight for the Big Room, one of the world’s largest subterranean chambers. You can hike in from the cave’s natural entrance, about a mile’s walk along the trail used by the cave’s earliest explorers, or you can use the elevators in the visitors center, which drop you 750 feet straight down to the floor of the cavern in a minute flat. The best thing about those elevators? When you’re done exploring, they lift you all the way back up again!

The Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns National Park

A self-guided tour will lead you along a very easy loop trail that takes about an hour; much of the loop is wheelchair-accessible. Go at your own pace past a wide variety of extraordinary formations—it’s like a crystalline forest of icicles magically turned to stone, all set aglow by concealed, low-intensity lighting. Ranger-led tours take small groups deeper into the vast system of caverns; tours are limited, so advance reservations are recommended. If you’re in the park at dusk, you can watch from the small outdoor amphitheater as hundreds of thousands of bats emerge from the caverns, a primordial smoke-like swirl of living creatures, off on their nightly bug hunt. Alas, no cameras are allowed; the bats are disturbed by all things electronic.

Leaving the park, head north on US 62/80 to the town of Carlsbad. When you reach the intersection with US 285, stay left and follow US 285 through the downtown area. Just beyond it, you’ll see signs for the Living Desert State Park. This nice zoo and botanical garden is like a microcosm of the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert, the second largest desert in North America, encompassing a major portion of the southwestern U.S. and much of northern Mexico. This is a fun stop for families; be sure to check out the art gallery, featuring the work of Maggie, the black bear who paints with her feet.

Just north of town is Brantley Lake State Park, a recreation area centered on an impoundment of the Pecos River, popular with local boaters and fishermen. If you’re spending extra time in and around Carlsbad, consider a side trip to Sitting Bull Falls, a series of spring-fed cascades spilling 150 feet into a rocky canyon. It’s not a huge volume of water, but lovely nonetheless. Getting to the falls requires a 60-mile round-trip on county roads; follow the signs off US 285 at Queen’s Highway (NM 137). Allow at least 2 hours, and call ahead to confirm hours of operation and road conditions; in some seasons it is open weekends only. If you decide to overnight in Carlsbad, consider the beautifully renovated Trinity Hotel. It’s small but well appointed, located in a historic bank building that dates to 1892.

Carlsbad Highlights

Carlsbad Caverns National Park727 Carlsbad Caverns Highway, Carlsbad, NM 88220(575) 785-2232nps.gov/caveLiving Desert State Park1504 Miehls Drive N., Carlsbad, NM 88220(575) 887-5516Brantley Lake State Park33 E. Brantley Lake Road, Carlsbad, NM 88221(575) 457-2384Sitting Bull FallsU.S. Forest Service, Guadalupe District Office5203 Buena Vista Drive, Carlsbad, NM 88220(575) 885-4181Trinity Hotel201 S. Canal St., Carlsbad, NM 88220(575) 234-9891thetrinityhotel.com

Roswell

Leaving Carlsbad, you’ll head north along the Pecos River, which enlivens an otherwise barren landscape, much of it dotted with oil wells and petrochemical facilities. Beyond the oil fields are irrigated fields, most of them devoted to grasses and alfalfa destined for animal feed; these are interspersed with stands of lush green pecan trees, all lined up in perfect rows.

Keep the Pecos on your right for 100 miles until you reach Roswell, the town that’s famous throughout the world for something that probably never happened: the so-called Roswell Incident. Certainly something crashed on a ranch northwest of town on a dark night in 1947. Some locals claimed it was a flying saucer, while military investigators insisted it was a weather balloon. That official story didn’t explain all the secrecy and military security that surrounded the crash site, and soon UFO rumors were rife, as were claims of a massive cover-up: There were multiple flying saucers; there were dead aliens; there were possibly even live aliens—in the custody of the Air Force!

Image from outside wall of El Toro Bravo Mexican Restaurant in Roswell: “Are there aliens among us?”

The Roswell Incident has been officially debunked at least a dozen different ways. In fact, in 1994, the military finally admitted that the U.S. Army Air Forces had, in fact, covered up a crash—not of an alien spacecraft, but of a high-altitude, instrument-laden balloon that was being used to spy on Russian nuclear tests. Diehards don’t believe that for a minute; it’s pretty tough to quash a good conspiracy theory. If you’re the sort who appreciates such things, check out Roswell’s International UFO Museum and Research Center, located in the middle of town. The exhibits tell the whole crazy story with newspaper clippings, artwork, fiberglass models, and grainy photographs of objects purported to be flying saucers. There are no actual alien artifacts on display, nor any verifiable photographs of any actual alien spacecraft. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t cool. and it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen …

For bird lovers: Eight miles east of Roswell, off US 380, is the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, a swampy area along the Pecos. This is an important wetland habitat for migratory birds, including sandhill cranes and snow geese, and it’s home to no fewer than 90 species of dragonflies and damselflies.

Roswell Highlights

International UFO Museum and Research Center114 N. Main St., Roswell, NM 88203(800) 822-3545roswellufomuseum.comBitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge4200 E. Pine Lodge Road, Roswell, NM 88201(575) 622-6755fws.gov/refuge/bitter_lake/

Billy the Kid Scenic Byway

Leaving Roswell, head west on US 70/380 toward a range of low mountains. After about 45 miles, you’ll reach Hondo, where US 70 and US 380 split. This is the start of the Billy the Kid Trail, a National Scenic Byway. Stay on US 380, and after another 15 miles you’ll roll into Lincoln. For aficionados of the history of the Wild West, this is a place of some significance: the site of the Lincoln County War, a famously deadly feud that took place in 1878 and featured Billy the Kid (see sidebar).

Lincoln hasn’t changed a whole lot since Billy’s day. The Lincoln County courthouse, the Tunstall store, the old mission church, and more than a dozen other buildings dating back to the late 1800s make up the Lincoln Historic Site, a state monument that includes six small museums and a cemetery where some of the Kid’s victims were buried. Original 19th-century merchandise is still on display in the store. This is not a touristy commercial enterprise but a rather remarkable piece of preservation, and well worth the visit.

Ten miles beyond Lincoln is Capitan, the final resting place of another American icon. In 1950, a black bear cub survived a devastating fire in the Lincoln National Forest and was rescued by firefighters. When he had recovered from his burns, he was sent to the National Zoo in Washington D.C., where he became a national celebrity: the original, real-life Smokey Bear, the symbol of fire safety for generations of American children. After Smokey died, in 1976, the zoo flew his body back to New Mexico and buried him here, near the place where he’d been found. Smokey Bear’s Gravesite is located in a small park dedicated to his memory—and to his message: “Only YOU can prevent forest fires!”

Turn south from Capitan on NM 48, the continuation of the Billy the Kid Trail, and head for Ruidoso, 16 miles south, in the Sierra Blanca mountains. It’s a wonderfully curvy road that’s great fun to drive. Continue down the mountain to Ruidoso Downs, a famous venue for high-stakes quarter horse racing. In town, you can check out the Hubbard Museum of the American West, a terrific collection of sculpture, paintings, and 19th-century artifacts, including rifles, wagons, and assorted cowboy paraphernalia.

Lincoln Town Cemetery, Lincoln Historic Site; “Final resting place of some of Billy the Kid’s Victims.”

Billy the KidBilly the Kid is one of the most iconic figures of the American West: a fearless young outlaw, cut down in his prime. His story is very well known, figuring in the plots of no fewer than 40 Hollywood movies, but it’s not a heroic tale. The real-life Billy, whose given name was actually Henry, got his outlaw start in the little town of Lincoln during a hellacious outbreak of violence known as the Lincoln County War.Two factions, each backed by gangs of hired guns, went at it in a fight for control of commerce in what was, at the time, a largely lawless territory. There were skirmishes and ambushes, raids, shoot-outs, and executions, and because each killing had to be avenged, an eye for an eye, the situation spiraled out of control. A gun battle raged in the streets of Lincoln for three days and nights, until Army troops, sent by the territorial governor, arrived on the scene with artillery.Young Billy, who was fighting for the losing side, escaped out a back door. The Kid spent a couple of years on the run, rustled cattle, committed some robberies, and killed a blacksmith, a sheriff, and a couple of deputies. He famously escaped from jail after being sentenced to hang, but finally met his fate, shot in an ambush by Sheriff Pat Garrett, a man who had once been his friend

Leaving Ruidoso, you’ll reconnect with US 70 for a quick 10 miles. When you reach the turnoff for NM 244, make a left onto the state highway, toward Cloudcroft, a favorite mountain getaway for New Mexico’s desert dwellers. The route travels for 30 miles through forested mountains and meadows alive with wildflowers, across the Mescalero Apache Reservation, finally connecting with US 82 in this cool town in the tall pines. Stop here if you’ve had enough for the day. The Lodge Resort provides old-fashioned luxury in a sprawling Victorian-era lodge; it’s very popular, so book ahead if you can. If you’re not staying, continue on down the mountain. You’re now just 20 miles (and 4,000 vertical feet) from Alamogordo, along another wonderful road that drops rapidly through a series of switchbacks and curves.

Torreon (Tower), “A mini-fortress, built to defend early residents of Lincoln, New Mexico from Apache raiders.”

Lincoln County and Sierra Blanca Highlights
Lincoln Historic SiteOn US 380, Lincoln, NM 88338(575) 653-4082nmhistoricsites.org/lincolnSmokey Bear Historical Park118 W. Smokey Bear Blvd., Capitan, NM 88316(575) 354-2748	Hubbard Museum of the American West26301 US 70 W., Ruidoso Downs, NM 88346(575) 378-4142hubbardmuseum.orgThe Lodge601 Corona Place, Cloudcroft, NM 88317(800) 395-6343thelodgeresort.com

Alamogordo to Las Cruces

When you reach US 54, turn south toward Alamogordo. If you like seriously quirky stuff, or if you just happen to like pistachios, turn north on US 54 instead and drive a couple of miles out of your way to McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch. You can not only purchase your fill of pistachios, but also check out the World’s Largest Pistachio, a 30-foot-tall steel-and-concrete paean to nuttiness that stands in front of the business.

Alamogordo is the gateway to White Sands National Monument, an astonishing natural display of pure-white gypsum crystals deposited in such quantity that they form a sea of shifting dunes that sparkle in the sunlight. Any time of day is great for photographs, but the sunsets are beyond superb. There is a 16-mile loop drive, with turnouts, and you can sled down the dunes on plastic saucers available for purchase from the gift shop. The visitors center is 15 miles southwest of Alamogordo off US 70.

If you have some extra time to spend in this area, stop by the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, where you can see the remains of an Ancestral Pueblo village and thousands of petroglyphs dating back 600 to 1,100 years. Three Rivers is one of the largest, most accessible sites of its kind, and well worth a visit for anyone with an interest in ancient cultures. It’s a 60-mile round-trip from Alamogordo (north of Tularosa, just off US 54), so you should allow at least 2 hours.

Another nearby attraction is the White Sands Missile Range Museum. The missile range, which lies 30 miles beyond the national monument, is the largest military installation in the United States. Follow the signs to the military base, a few miles off US 70. Here you can explore some of the darker history of this remarkable area. Established in 1945, in the closing months of World War II, the range encompasses the Trinity site, where the first atomic bomb was tested. Since then, White Sands has served as a testing ground for missiles and other modern weapons of war, many of which are on display at the museum.

Sunset at White Sands, New Mexico

Leaving the museum, follow US 70 the rest of the way to Las Cruces, where you can rejoin Interstate 10. The Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces is a great spot for a well-deserved rest; call ahead to book some time in the full-service spa.

Rainbow over the Sacramento Mountains, south of Alamogordo

Alamogordo to Las Cruces Highlights
World’s Largest Pistachio McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch7320 US 54/70, Alamogordo, NM 88310(575) 437-0602pistachioland.comThree Rivers Petroglyph Site301-453 3 Rivers Road, Tularosa, NM 88352(575) 525-4300White Sands National Monument19955 Highway 70 West, Alamogordo, NM 88310(575) 479-6124nps.gov/whsa	White Sands Missile Range MuseumHolloman Air Force BaseOwen Road, White Sands Missile Range, NM 88802(575) 678-3358Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces705 S. Telshor Blvd., Las Cruces, NM 88011(575) 522-4300hotelencanto.com