Texas, NM, Arizona Road Trip Suggestions

[Mighty Mouse]

+1 for Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend NP's. I visited them many times when I lived in Midland.

Arizona Snowbowl near Flagstaff if you're into skiing and the conditions are good.

These next suggestions may be too far north of your intended route, but if you do swing up toward the Four Corners area, Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly are worthwhile stops if Native American history interests you. Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend overlook are worth a stop if you're near Page, AZ.

 

[gbuz ee]

Guadeloupe national park as mentioned already is great

 

[insanelupus]

Lake Valley Historic Townsite | Bureau of Land Management

The mining town of Lake Valley was founded in 1878 after silver was discovered. Almost overnight, the small frontier town blossomed into a major settlement with a population of 4,000 people. Today, silver mining has played out and all that remains is a ghost town. BLM has restored the...

www.blm.gov

Fort Cummings, New Mexico – Watering the Overland Route – Legends of America

Cooke's Spring in New Mexico was named after the battalion's commander and would later become the site of Fort Cummings.

www.legendsofamerica.com

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)

For thousands of years, groups of nomads used the caves above Cliff Dweller Creek as temporary shelter. In the late 1200s, people of the agricultural Mogollon (Southern Ancestral Pueblo) culture made it a home. They built rooms, crafted pottery and raised children in the cliff dwellings for one...

www.nps.gov

 

[Amos Keeto]

If you head to the Big Bend (Alpine, TX) Nat'l Park, you might also consider:
1) Marfa (TX) "lights". Not a big deal, but pretty neat
2) Fort Davis
3) the McDonald Observatory
(note) if you're interested in the Observatory, start calling now for reservations!
4) the "Sand Dunes" near Monahans, TX is....well....a bunch of shifting, blowing sand!
5) Balmorhea State Park near Toyahvale, TX is a unique place. You may not want to go swimming in Jan or Feb, but it's pretty, unique and has hiking trails.

P.S. the high 🏜 desert is gorgeous that time of year.

New Mexico - I'd try Ruidoso. It's kind of an "artsy-fartsy" kinda place, but interesting.

Carlsbad Caverns is probably the "diamond" of NM.
"City of Rocks" is neat if you stumble into it.

Red River, NM is nice if you're into ski areas.
The "Cumbres & Toltec Railway" in Chama, NM will be parked for the winter, but is still interesting.

NOTE:
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!
"IF"  you happen to decide to visit Big Bend, go to the rangers station and register with them, give them an itinerary and STICK TO IT!*
Alpine, TX is considered the "Gateway to Big Bend Nat'l Park!"
The entry to Big Bend is 100 miles from Alpine!
If you get in trouble, it's a helluva long way to get help!
The Border Patrol "Air & Marine" unit (helicopters) is often called upon to remove injured hikers and locate lost ones!

Beautiful....but dangerous!

* - the manpower at the park is very slim.
IF you don't check-in at the appointed time, they WILL come looking for you. It's their job!
....and if you're not where you're "supposed" to be, Big Bend is HUGE. Lots of "nooks & crannies" to look in!

Last summer, a dad took his 2 sons hiking in Big Bend.
Unprepared, the heat got to them.
The dad tried to pack the youngest out.
The oldest son survived. The dad and youngest didn't make it.

 

[pirogue]

As you may be traveling I-10, if you find yourself near Las Cruces for the night, on the south side of I-10 is Mesilla. A good restaurant, with old architecture, that has sheltered many personalities, is La Posta.

 

[Gbfan]

Someone already suggested the green chile cheeseburger at the Owl Cafe in San Antonio, NM, but my vote goes to the burger at the Buckhorn across the street. If you're closer to Hatch, NM, you might try one at Sparky's, but last time I had one there, it was overpriced and not as good as a previous trip.

 

[pirogue]

If you’re on I-20, don’t plan on stopping for fuel in or between Pecos and Odessa. Oil field workers make those areas very time consuming.

 

[Amos Keeto]

If you’re on I-20, don’t plan on stopping for fuel in or between Pecos and Odessa. Oil field workers make those areas very time consuming.

LOL! Due to oilfield traffic, I would avoid IH20 from Monahans to about Sweetwater ...
......period!
It's awful!

 

[rookieforever33]

The road to escalante. We found it by accident on a motorcycle trip. Still talking about it today

 

[butcherboy]

As you may be traveling I-10, if you find yourself near Las Cruces for the night, on the south side of I-10 is Mesilla. A good restaurant, with old architecture, that has sheltered many personalities, is La Posta.

La Posta is pretty good! I have a niece that went to NMSU and we would meet there to eat when I was down in Deming Ibex hunting. I think BIlly the Kid stayed in Mesilla a few times as well. NM also has the oldest Catholic Church in the United States. It’s funny that NM was one if not the first place in the US to be settled by Europeans but one of the last to become a US state right in front of Alaska and Hawaii.

 

[fmyth]

Buy AZ OTC archery deer tags on the morning of Nov 24th at 8am AZ time. Visit in January and stay at Roosevelt lake RV park or boondock and hunt one of the nearby units for desert mule deer or coues. If you want to boondock I can help point you in the right direction. https://otcarcherydeer.azgfd.gov/