City of Rocks State Park
This is one of the most unusual of the state parks, and one of the finest for picnicking and for camping. Located in the unusual rock formation known as the Sugarlump Welded Rhyolite Tuff northwest of Deming, it is a source of wonder to all visitors. Suddenly, in a seemingly flat, desert plain, one comes upon these grotesque outcrops. In the coolness of the shade of these ancient rocks one can survey vistas under an azure sky that are almost breathless. This is the desert Southwest at its very best; not the harsh, unfriendly desert of movies and fiction, but a lovely spot in which to enjoy to the fullest the wonders of nature.
Kit Carson Memorial Park
This 20-acre plot of grass, flower beds, trees, and picnic tables lies on the northeast edge of Taos and contains the graves of Kit Carson and Padre José Martinez. Not far away is the Kit Carson House, a group of adobe buildings surrounding a patio, that was Carson’s headquarters, office, and home from 1858 to 1866. This Indian fighter, trapper, hunter, and trader is most famous for defeating the Navajos in Canyon de Chelly and marching 7000 of these Indians across New Mexico to a reservation at Bosque Redondo near Fort Sumner. However, during his eight years as Indian agent, Carson worked continuously for the welfare of his charges.
Oasis State Park
One of the state’s newest parks, Oasis is seven miles northeast of Portales along State Highway 467. This shady place of cottonwood trees amid sand dunes has long been a favorite picnic spot. The sand dunes form an irregular ridge separating Portales Valley to the south from Blackwater Draw to the north. In Blackwater Draw have been found bones of ancient animals and the weapons used by early man some 12,000 years ago. Portales Valley is the sand-filled remnant of the early Pleistocene Brazos River Valley that once drained eastward into Texas. About 800,000 years ago, the Pecos River to the west “captured” the headwaters of this former Brazos River and left the Portales Valley high and dry.
Valley of Fires State Park
This park, about five miles west of Carrizozo on U.S. Highway 380, features picnic tables amid the Carrizozo lava flow, or malpais, one of the youngest in the United States. The lava flowed out of Little Black Peak about 1000 years ago in a series of individual “rivers” of hot black basalt. The composite flow is 44 miles long, 0.5 to 6 miles wide, and is made up of about 1 cubic mile of basalt; it moved southward down the lowest part of the northern Tularosa Basin.
Climb around on the lava and note the ropy nature of the surface (pahoehoe of the Hawaiians), the many frozen gas bubbles in the rocks (vesicles), the squeeze-ups where once-liquid lava protrudes through cracks in the hardened crust, the pressure ridges where the hardened crust arched and broke, and collapsed lava tunnels where the outer lava froze and the molten interior ran out, leaving an open tube or cave.