We're trying to plan a trip somewhere in The SE NM area the week between Christmas and New Years. Normally we head out to Big Bend, but this year my FIL wants to try something different. Looking at the map, we narrowed it down to Carlsbad or Alamo. It'll be my crew (me, wife, 5yo daughter and 1yo son) in our rv and the in laws in theirs w/ his big JK. We'll have 2-3 days to run around. We're looking for some good, scenic backroads and some moderately difficult trails. Any suggestions? I don't know much about the area, neither does FIL for that matter, we're still trying to figure things out.

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Haven’t done this myself, but looks good:

https://ridebdr.com/NMBDR

Didn't' do a ton of stuff while we were there but Check out White sands at dusk. Also head up the mountain to Cloudcroft! lots of hiking there and forest service roads in the area. I would just explore Google maps a bit. also there were some nice areas near Ruidoso.

Thanks, I'll have to look into these. We're looking into Forrest maps, just looking for any points of interest and where we should set up base camp.

Moving to Off Topic

If we have a winter this year (last season was disastrous) there will be snow up in and around Cloudcroft which will be fun on the forest roads. There are quit a number of different forest roads and some have stunning views of the Tularosa Basin where you can see pretty much all of White Sands from 8k ft. White Sands is always a good stop. Any moderate wheeling you would have to drive over to Las Cruces.

Guadalupe Mountains NP on the east-west oriented TX/NM border is pretty nice. Great hiking there. Not necessarily that close to White Sands/Alamogordo, however, but if you like BBNP, GMNP should work for you as well.

If you go to Alamogordo, definitely check out White Sands. My girlfriend and I went walking there and walked for about 5 minutes in one direction and then turned around..it was so desolate and quiet!

Cloudcroft is beautiful too, unfortunately I've never been able to explore the surrounding forest service roads since I've always been in a car, but it seems like a neat place to explore.

I would try and go to Carlsbad Caverns if I were you. I really enjoyed how they light up the cave just enough to see all of the features, but not enough to be overwhelming and fake. I've been there three times now and can't get enough of it.

If you do end up exploring Guadalupe Mountain National Park, there is a particular hike that goes about 3 miles back and then you come across an old preserved cabin / shelter. There was a Park Ranger / guide inside that told us about the history of the place and was really cool. He was an older gentleman and his name was Carl - if you do end up going, can you tell me if he's still there?

Frijole Ranch is also at Guadalupe Mountains NP and was cool to see. Good luck on your adventures; I am jealous!

Thanks for the replies. I think we've narrowed it down. We're likely staying in or around Carlsbad. We'll probably be sticking to the NP's, one day a piece. Maybe try to spend one full day running the forest roads,, hopefully making it over to Cloudcroft. I might be able to squeeze in another day to the trip, if so we can move base camp and do a full day around White Sands. Not as much off-roading as I want, but sometimes you have to compromise.

Alamogordo is in a beautiful valley; Carlsbad is an unmitigated dump. And because of all the oil & gas exploration in the Permian Basin, everything is WAAY overpriced.

I have been looking at a trip like this for a while now. There are a couple maps and a KMZ file here.

http://www.toyotaoff-road.com/thread...esources.2148/

Look at staying in Artesia, NM. We've stayed there at the Hampton Inn. Much less expensive than staying in Carlsbad. Plus, you can drive to Roswell, Carlsbad, Alamogordo, etc from there.

Great steak place == Pecos Diamond Steakhouse.

Well, our plans have changed a little. We'd planned on spending all our time in and around CCNP and GMNP, but because of the shutdown, we're going to move over to Alamo. It looks like it's going to be a little cool and there is some snow forecasted around Cloudcroft, how will that effect the forest roads?