Exploring New Mexico's Natural Wonders

Home to over 119 caves, Carlsbad Caverns plunges to over 1,000 feet. The 'Big Room' is a chamber so vast that it could house 14 football fields, boasting a remarkable underground landscape.

The White Sands National Park contains the world's largest gypsum dune field, spanning 275 square miles. This glistening white desert's sands are so reflective, they prevent the surface from the extreme heat common to other deserts.

Rising 1,583 feet above the high-desert plain, Shiprock is a sacred mountain to the Navajo people. This geological marvel is the eroded remnant of a volcano's throat, visible for miles in all directions.

Valles Caldera in the Jemez Mountains is a 13-mile wide volcanic caldera. Formed by a massive eruption over 1 million years ago, it's known for its hot springs and abundant wildlife, including one of the largest elk herds.

The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument offers a glimpse into the lives of the Mogollon people who inhabited the area over 700 years ago. These ancient homes are remarkably preserved in cliff overhangs.

The Rio Grande rift is a major geological feature, stretching from Colorado to Chihuahua, Mexico. This tectonic rift zone is responsible for the dramatic landscapes and hot springs found throughout New Mexico.

The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness features bizarre and colorful hoodoos, petrified wood, and dinosaur fossils. This surreal and mostly untouched landscape offers a journey through time, with rock formations dating back over 70 million years.

Carlsbad Caverns houses a bat colony of 400,000 Mexican free-tailed bats, emerging at dusk in a mesmerizing aerial ballet.