Guest post by Lauren Bajda
Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
Day 1: Las Cruces
- Farmer’s Market
- Grounded
- Dripping Springs hike
- Mesilla Plaza
- Rio Grande Vineyard and Winery
El Paso is the closest airport, which is just under an hour from my base in Las Cruces. If you happen to be there on a Wednesday or Saturday morning, there is one of the longest-running farmer’s markets downtown. Lots of food, crafts, and other goods.
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Grounded is a downtown coffee shop with great pizza too, so you can stop there before or after going through the market.
After that, I did the Dripping Springs hike (3 miles RT) in the Organ Mountains. The trailhead is about 20 minutes outside of Las Cruces and it’s a very popular and scenic hike. There are nice views of the mountains and some ruins along the way, too.
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After the hike I stopped in old Mesilla, which is a nice square with pueblo-style buildings and shops. In the evening I went to the Rio Grande Winery which was excellent. There are lots of choices for wineries in the area and this one was great.
Day 2: White Sands National Park
About an hour from Las Cruces is White Sands National Park. The drive from Las Cruces is gorgeous – you go through the mountains and then get a stunning view from on high overlooking the area. You can spend a few hours at the park – there are defined trails and some areas that you can just wander around. You can also camp here and there’s a really nice sunset hike. While I didn’t get to, lots of people were having fun sliding down the dunes. You can bring your own sled or you can buy them from the visitor center.
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I heard good things about Cloudcroft, a small mountain town another 40 minutes NE of the park. Since it was further away from Las Cruces I didn’t make it there, but was told they have a good brewery with pizza and live music.
Day 3: Hatch and Truth or Consequences
About 45 minutes north of Las Cruces is Hatch, a very small town known as the chili capital of the world. You have to eat at the renowned restaurant Sparkys where I had one of the best burgers of my life.
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Another 40 minutes north is Truth or Consequences (that’s the name of the town). There’s really only one street with shops and not a whole lot to do, but people go here for the hot springs. There are several to choose from and they range in price from around $7 up to $35. I went to Riverbend Hot Springs, which seems to be the most popular and was one of the nicer ones. Relaxing in the pools was a highlight of the trip. You could fit these places in with White Sands for a long day if you were short on time but I thought it was better to split them up.
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Traveled in March 2022
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