Las Cruces, New Mexico - A Travel Guide

Mesilla is a charming historical community in southern New Mexico. Established in 1848, Mesilla played a major role in the historic, economic, cultural, and political life of the Mesilla Valley. Today's residents of Messila are descendants of Mesilla's early settlers, a colorful mix of American Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American cultures. Old Mesilla Village preserved its cultural diversity through its colorful architecture, art, and customs, making Mesilla one of the most visited towns in the region.

The plaza, the buildings facing the plaza, the acequias, and whole blocks of traditional colorful residential adobe buildings beyond the plaza are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The plaza, which was traditionally the social, spiritual, and economic center of town, continues to be a lively gathering place for tourists and locals, with many festivals and celebrations taking place on its worn cobblestones. From the south end of Mesilla Plaza, you can see the 1906 Basilica of San Albino, where an earlier adobe church built in 1857 once stood. Many of the colorful adobe houses are today's restaurants, shops, and B&Bs.

2385 Calle de Guadalupe, Las Cruces, NM 88046, Phone: 575-647-4767

The Museum of Nature & Science in Las Cruces has a mission to encourage stewardship of the nature of the Chihuahuan Desert and southern New Mexico and to inspire life-long learning and curiosity about the sciences. The museum has three permanent exhibits: Permian Trackways, Desert Life, and Light & Space. The Permian Trackways showcases two fascinating fossil trackways from the Permian Period, a cast of a dimetrodon, touchable trace fossils, and interactive media programs on the featured trackways.

The Desert Life presents five habitats of the Chihuahuan Desert: bajadas, desert plains, desert rivers, sky islands, and desert grasslands. There are 29 live animals, taxidermied birds and desert mammals, and pictures and photos of the most important plant species. The Light & Space exhibit features a four-foot digital globe, a telescope, a light experimenting table, images of the universe from Space Science Institute, a model of the solar system, and an interactive exhibit on stars.

411 N Downtown Mall, Las Cruces, NM 88001, Phone: 575-522-3120

The Dripping Springs Natural Area is located only ten miles from Las Cruces on the slopes of the Organ Mountains. With more than four miles of hiking trails, it is a nature-lover's paradise. One of the most popular trails is the easy Dripping Springs Trail surrounded by desert scrub and woodlands dense with pinon, juniper, and oak.

The area is filled with wildlife, and with some luck you might spot a red-tailed hawk, rock squirrel, Gambel's quail, or the rare golden eagle. You can also see year-round coyote, desert mule deer, black-throated sparrow, cactus wren, lesser nighthawk, Scott's oriole, and collared and tree lizard. If you are really lucky, you can see a mountain lion. The Dripping Springs Natural Area has a good visitor center, 12 picnic sites, and a large family picnic site.

15000 Dripping Springs Road, Las Cruces, NM 88011, Phone: 575-525-4300

White Sands Missile Range Museum is a US Army rocket range covering about 3,200 square miles in southern New Mexico. It is the largest military installation in the US. The White Sands Proving Ground was established in 1945 to test American and German long-range rockets.

The White Sands Missile Range Museum explores the origin of America's missile and space programs, the beginning of the atomic age, and the accomplishments of scientists like Dr. Wernher von Braun at White Sands. Displays also show the prehistoric cultures and Old West exhibits found in southern New Mexico. A missile park outside the museum displays about 50 missiles and rockets that were tested at White Sands such as the WAC Corporal, Loon, Pershing II, and Patriot.

Las Cruces, NM, Phone: 575-678-2250

The Prehistoric Trackways National Monument (PTNM) contains the footprints of reptiles, insects, and numerous other amphibians – many of which were previously unknown species. Established in 2009, the Monument is one of the most important track sites in the world, having significant scientific importance; this includes a deposit of Paleozoic Era footprint fossils and 280 million year old petrified wood.

PTNM protects and conserves the land and all of the opportunities it offers to understand and learn the behaviors of the environment and animals that have been recorded there. The main focus of the Robledo Mountains of southern New Mexico, the Monument is an educational, scientific, paleontological, recreational, and scenic location that educates and entertains its visitors no matter their age.

1800 Marquess Street, Las Cruces, NM 88005-3370, Phone: 575-525-4300

The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum is a 47-acre interactive indoor and outdoor museum in Las Cruces, New Mexico that celebrates a 3,000-year history of farming and ranching in New Mexico. The Bruce King Building has six galleries and corridors that display the museum's permanent and temporary exhibits, which showcase fine art, tools, and structures such as a pithouse.

The main building features the Eagle Ranch Museum shop and a theater. The museum also includes the Historic Green Bridge, the Skaggs Dairy Barn, Beef Barn, Blacksmith Shop, the Sheep and Goat Barn, the Greenhouse, orchards, gardens, a pond, and a number of live barn animals.

4100 Dripping Springs Rd, Las Cruces, NM 88011-5067, Phone: 575-522-4100

A part of the New Mexico State University, The Zuhl Museum is both an art gallery and a natural history museum. It is the home of the Zuhl Collection with more than 1,800 rare specimens of fossils, petrified wood, and minerals. The collection was gifted to the university by Herb and Joan Zuhl. Most specimens are on display in the Zuhl Museum, the Zuhl Library, and Gardiner Hall, in the Department of Geological Sciences. Most of the collection is composed of pieces of petrified wood, from a few centimeters long twigs to logs over a meter in diameter.

Some of them are millions of years old, and Zuhls called them “souls of the tree.” Of Zuhl's collection of minerals and rocks collected from all over the world, the most impressive are specimens of malachite, rhodochrosite, and reutilized quartz. They range from a few centimeters to almost a meter in diameter. The Zuhl collection contains a number of fossils of animals from all over the world, and it includes corals, trilobites, ammonites, fishes, and insects.

775 College Dr, Las Cruces, NM 88003-1204, Phone: 575-646-4714

Located on the rolling foothills of the magnificent Organ Mountains, the Soledad Canyon Day Use Area stretches between two canyons -- Soledad Canyon and Bar Canyon. The area presents an easy, lovely hike on the outskirts of Las Cruces and is famous for the three-mile Bar Canyon Trail loop with magnificent views of the Mesilla Valley and the central parts of the Organ Mountains.

The trails in Soledad Canyon are also suitable for horseback riding and mountain biking. After you pass through a narrowing canyon, you will come up to a beautiful waterfall. Occasionally, you can spot deer and other wildlife.

Soledad Canyon Rd, Las Cruces, NM 88011, Phone: 575-525-4300

In 1876, Lake Valley was a bustling mining town with almost 4000 people looking for riches from the earth. One vein called the "Bridal Chamber" yielded almost 2.5 million troy ounces of silver on its own. By 1883, the silver was gone, angry Apache were causing trouble and the honeymoon was over.

Slowly but surely, the people left, and when the last one wondered off in 1994, Lake Valley officially became a ghost town. The Bureau of Land Management has restored the schoolhouse and chapel to offer a glimpse of life in the early 20th century. People are free to roam around the Lake Valley Historic Townsite on a self-guided tour and imagine a life full of hope. Hiking is always fun, and you might spot some wildlife.

Lake Valley, Las Cruces, NM, Phone: 575-525-4300