Apr 4

Written by: chris
4/4/2016 

Great American Road Trips: The National Parks of New Mexico

I am inviting you to come with me on a Great American Road Trip.  And this one is pretty special. I was inspired to plan this trip by the “Visit the USA” website where you will find details on all those great American Road Trips that you always dreamt you would take one day. I am starting on the Pacific Coast, in San Francisco, and driving 5,000 kilometers through the US Southwest, through California, Arizona and New Mexico.  Every great road trip needs a theme, a thread that provides purpose to the trip. My objective on this trip is to visit the iconic National Parks of America’s Southwest in what is a very special year for the National Park Service of the United States.

Because this is the U.S. National Park Service 2016 Centennial year: one hundred years of preserving, protecting and opening up some of the greatest natural and historical spaces on the continent. Starting in the Nineteenth Century, the scenic natural wonders of the West, such as the towering mountains and majestic trees of Yosemite and the immense vistas of the Grand Canyon, inspired individual Americans to call for their preservation, asking their government to create something called “national parks.” In 1916, the work of caring for these places was moved to a new agency created by Congress for that specific purpose. The National Park Service was given the responsibility to not only conserve and protect parks, but also to leave them “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Today there are over 400 national parks and monuments which include not only places of scenic grandeur, but also places that commemorate history too. The National Parks have been described as “America’s Best Idea”. This trip will make that claim come alive in the region where the idea was first realized: America’s West. This Travel Blog covers the New Mexico leg of the road trip – you can follow my trip through California and Arizona in separate blogs linked on this page.

I have come off Interstate 40 as I head eastwards into New Mexico from Arizona onto the back roads – classic road trip territory, with huge landscapes, empty roads and the promise of wonders ahead. The first of these is El Morro National Monument. It was once a welcome oasis in a barren land. Travellers were drawn here from ancient times due to its rare pool of fresh water. 

As they passed by, they created graffiti that today tells a fascinating story of the people who visited this place. Thanks to the interpretation by the National Parks Service you learn the story behind every name and message carved in the rock at El Morro.

Here at Inscription Rock are petroglyphs created by the Native Puebloan people depicting the animals that they hunted and their sacred symbols. There are messages from Spanish soldiers who passed by and even Lieutenant Governors sent from Spain to this new territory. There are markers from Pioneers who passed this way en route to California and a better life. Railway surveyors signed their names here – before they ultimately bypassed this area and it lost its significance as a resting place for travellers. Until now… As I sit here in the crisp sunshine at over 7,000 feet above sea level, and imagine the countless weary peoples who have found a respite in this place.

Each National Park or Monument that I have visited on this road trip has taught me about geology and the formation of these spectacular South Western landscapes. El Malpais National Monument, close to El Morro, was formed by volcanic action and here are huge areas of lava tubes, cinder cones and some of the most recent lava rock formations in North America. I am exploring its jumbled and sometimes jagged landscape by hiking El Calderon Trail. My highlight are the lave tube caves which once carried rivers of molten lava and now exist as darkly sinuous caves under the volcanic landscape.

Further west, El Malpais National Monument features huge sandstone bluffs. As the sun casts long afternoon shadows I stand atop Sandstone Bluffs Overlook and gaze out of a true wilderness of lava fields and desert lands, a desolate environment, but one in which Ancient Puebloans still managed to eke an existence.

Tonight I have very much returned to civilization! I’m in New Mexico’s largest city, Albuquerque, at the Nativo Lodge. It is a destination in itself as it blends the same mix of Native, Spanish and Southwestern heritage that I saw written in the rocks at El Morro earlier today. I am staying in an “Artist Guest Room” here. Ehren Kee Natay (Diné/Kewa Pueblo) created the art on the walls of my room. He is a contemporary street art style artist. His work portrays a buffalo dancer and a water serpent from his own culture and also includes pop culture and comic book style design. Very unique!

 

I’m driving south from Albuquerque towards El Paso and the Mexican border to the Tularosa Basin. This is where we will find one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sand dunes of gypsum sand which cover 275 square miles of desert, creating the world's largest gypsum dune-field: White Sands National Monument. This unearthly landscape is not comprised of ordinary sand - the dunes are formed from gleaming white gypsum.

This is the largest gypsum dune field in the world – it is so large that astronauts in the Space Station can see White Sands National Monument and know that they are over New Mexico. The dunes were formed because of an unusual combination of geological events, but in essence deposited gypsum crystals were tumbled by the wind to grind them to a fine powder. And the wind continues to shape the landscape, painting beautiful patterns on the dunes. 

The National Parks Service provides great interpretation here as at all the National Parks. This Interdune Boardwalk makes the dunes accessible to everyone. There are also informative “Sunset Strolls” with a Park Ranger. For the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service there are special events such as concerts amongst the dunes as well as Full Moon Nights. And who says that National Parks aren’t also fun? At White Sands National Monument the dunes are regarded as a highly stable resource and you can walk wherever you wish, take some great marked hikes and even camp overnight on the dunes under the stars. But the best thing to do is to whizz down the dunes on a sled – much warmer and drier than sledding on snow!

Today I have driven through stunning New Mexico desert scenery to Carlsbad National Park. There is no indication that far below this desert landscape hides one of the most remarkable cave systems in the world… 

Here is the place where you enter Carlsbad Caverns. The caves were discovered in the early 1900’s and were soon declared a National Park. What actually led to their discovery was what looked like smoke rising from the ground. In fact this phenomenon was hundreds of thousands of bats leaving the cave at twilight to feed. Today the cave system is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I hiked down into the depths via the Natural Entrance Route and as the daylight faded away, the enormity of this cave system became apparent…

The cave system is very extensive and stretches many kilometers underground. The stalagmites, stalactites, columns and other formations are quite beautiful. The Big Cave at the far end of the system lives up to its name – the scale is tremendous : it covers 8.2 acres, is 255 feet high and 1,800 feet long…and lies 800 feet under the desert landscape above.

I couldn’t resist stopping at Roswell today. The International UFO Museum recounts the events surrounding the mysterious 1947 “Roswell Incident”. Did a UFO crash near this small New Mexico town? Did the US Government cover it up and remove both the spaceship and the bodies of aliens? We will never know……but the truth is out there somewhere!

Another highlight of any trip to New Mexico has to be Santa Fe. Older than Quebec City and the highest State Capital in the US at over 7000 feet above sea level - Santa Fe is a cultural treasure trove of historical adobe buildings, fascinating museums and a modern arts explosion that makes for a wonderful mix. This photo is the building that houses the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. I also loved the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum which displays many lovely paintings inspired by New Mexico landscapes.

The Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe is the oldest public building in the US. It began as home to New Mexico’s first Governor in 1610 and passed to Pueblo Indians and Mexico before becoming the seat of the US Territory’s earliest Governors. It faces the Plaza - Santa Fe’s heart for over 400 years.

And here at the end of my journey is Albuquerque - New Mexico’s largest city and with a charming Old Town centred around the San Felipe de Neri Church. I fly home tomorrow after a truly Great American Road Trip of nearly 5,000kms, 12 days, 3 States and 13 National Parks and Monuments. You can read my Travel Blogs on the earlier parts of my journey in California and Arizona elsewhere on this section of the Travel Show website.

The only drawback with great road trips is…they have to come to an end!  It has been a magnificent experience and I hope that you have enjoyed sharing it with me. But this was my road trip…and now you should think about planning your own Great American Road Trip.  The place to start is the www.VisittheUSA.ca website: go to the Explore tab and click on Road Trips for a whole range of suggested road trips, from the Blues Highway to the Oregon Trail and from Route 66 to the Great River Road.  And you can see more images from my trip on www.pinterest.com/TravelShow.

Accommodations

I would recommend the accommodations I experienced on this trip:

Nativo Lodge, 6000 Pan American Freeway, Albuquerque NM 87109  505-7987-4300 www.nativolodge.com

Inn of the Mountain Gods, 287 Carrizo Canyon Road, Mescalero NM  88340  Tel: 575-464-7780  http://innofthemountaingods.com

Trinity Hotel, 201 S. Cana St., Trinity NM  575-234-9891  www.thetrinityhotel.com

Hotel Albuquerque, 800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW Albuquerque NM  87104  505-843-6300  www.hotelabq.com

Thanks

Many helpful hands facilitated my journey, especially the dedicated team of the National Park Service: Maci in El Morro and El Malpais; Rebecca in White Sands; and Valerie at Carlsbad Cavernsall graciously provided interviews for the Travel Show. You can listen to them as podcasts here: www.chrisrobinsontravelshow.ca/RadioShows/ChrisInterviews.aspx. I would also like to thank Carolyn and Heather at New Mexico Tourism as well as Sana, Patrice and Marissa in the Canadian Office of Brand USA. 

Here I am ready for my road trip with my rental car and, very importantly, the right luggage - thanks to the advice from Bentley luggage store. They suggested this light weight Swiss Gear 28” case, which seems to hold all I need for 2 weeks intensive travel, plus the handy Parkland duffel bag.

www.shopbentley.com/en/swiss-gear-21-5-dom-hardside-luggage-1009061002.html

www.shopbentley.com/en/shop-parkland/parkland-view-duffle-black.html