Two Stops in New Mexico 2026

ahschneid
3 hours ago
8 min read

Highlight of our two stops in New Mexico

We spent 9 nights in New Mexico on our way to Texas. Two nights were spent at City of Rocks State Park in Faywood NM, then one week at The Ranch, an SKP Co-Op in Lakewood NM. City of Rocks State Park is amazing! The campground is literally among these huge rocks and it’s very quiet. It is located next door to natural hot springs at Faywood Hot Springs Resort. We got a reservation for a soak in a hot spring at 7pm the day we arrived. It was nice after our day of driving. We had a full hook up campsite, so we weren’t parked among the rocks, but we took a 2 mile walk around the campground to find the petroglyphs on the rocks and we saw campers nestled between rocks. We just had the one day to site see, so after the hike around the campground that morning, we drove out to Hatch NM and had lunch, then on to Truth or Consequences NM. Hatch NM is known for the chili peppers and Truth or Consequences NM was originally named Hot Springs because of its geothermal hot springs, but in 1950 decided to change its name to Truth or Consequences after the radio show of that time. We looked for pistachios in Hatch, but were told Alamogordo is the place to get them.

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 11-12 March 2026

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 11-12 March 2026

Visitor Center

Faywood Hot Springs Resort - Faywood New Mexico - 11 March 2026

Faywood Hot Springs Resort - Faywood New Mexico - 11 March 2026

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Petroglyph hike

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Petroglyph hike

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Petroglyph hike

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Petroglyph hike - park's water source

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Petroglyph hike - Inside this little cubby is the Kokopelli petroglyph...it's black and didn't show up in the picture...

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Petroglyph hike - behind the rock inside the little cubby is a Kokopelli petroglyph

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Petroglyph hike - Another Kokopelli petroglyph...

City of Rocks State Park - Faywood New Mexico - 12 March 2026

Beautiful New Mexico sunset...

We arrived in Lakewood New Mexico on 13 March 2026. The day we arrived in Lakewood was a Friday during Lent, so we attended Stations of the Cross at St. Edward Catholic Church in Carlsbad. They had a brief mass after Stations and then a social “dinner” of soup and fish. It seemed to be a very active parish and the folks we sat with were very nice and very informative about places to see while in Carlsbad. On Saturday we attended the Pi Day social at the campground. People brought pizza, quiches, regular pies and every other kind of pie in between. It was a good social setting and we enjoyed talking with the residents.

On the Monday in Lakewood (16 March 2025), we drove out to see Sitting Bull Falls State Park. Someone had mentioned that to us after mass on the Friday we arrived. This was fascinating to see an actual waterfall in the desert. We’ve seen a lot of desert since we arrived in Yuma Arizona in early December and we’re both ready to see more green and more water. The waterfall was nice, to say the least.

Giant Alamogordo Pistachio at McGinn's on our way to Lakewood New Mexico 13 March 2026

We got pistachios here...

St. Edward Catholic Church Carlsbad New Mexico 13 March 2026

St. Edward Catholic Church Carlsbad New Mexico 13 March 2026

St. Edward Catholic Church Carlsbad New Mexico 13 March 2026

Cherry Pie Steve made for Pi Day social at SKP Co-op 14 March 2026

St. Anthony's Catholic Church Artesia New Mexico 15 March 2026

We ended up going to 9:30am mass in Artesia on Sunday morning...

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Waterfall was actually flowing...

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Temp got down to 28 that morning - there were icicles at the waterfall...

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Sitting Bull Falls State Park southwest of Carlsbad NM 16 March 2026

Lakewood New Mexico is equidistant from Carlsbad and Artesia NM (about 21 miles), so we explored both towns and their surroundings. The Ranch SKP Co-Op is known as the “original ranch” in the SKP Co-Op system. As Escapee members, we can stay at these SKP parks for a nominal cost. Our week at The Ranch was $79 for full hookups.

We had plans to see Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Park (in western Texas). Guadalupe Peak in the highest natural peak in Texas at 8,751 feet. Steve would have liked to hike to the top, but we got to that park later in the day, and couldn’t even find a parking space. We had learned at Carlsbad Caverns that morning that we were there during the busiest week of the year with schools from NM, TX and AZ being on Spring Break. We had gotten an early start to be at Carlsbad Caverns National Park by 9am, but we arrived to find a long line of people around the outside of the building waiting and hoping to get a timed entry ticket. The ticket would be for a self-guided tour of the caverns with a choice of hiking down to the "big room" or taking the elevator down. There were no ranger guided tours that day. The line moved pretty fast and we got to the ticket counter about 9:30am. We got tickets, but for 11:30am, so we had almost two hours to kill. We watched the park film and just hung around waiting for our 11:30am entry. Because it was so late, we opted to take the elevator down to the “Big Room”, take the 1.25 mile walk around the natural underground wonder and then take the elevator back up. The Big Room in Carlsbad Caverns National Park is North America's largest single cave chamber by volume, measuring nearly 4,000 feet long and up to 255 feet high. Located 750 feet underground, this massive limestone cave could hold two or our nation's capital buildings and then some. The walk 750 feet underground was pleasant and cool. The temps stay around 60 degrees and the formations are other worldly.

We wanted to see Guadalupe Mountains National Park that day too. We had our lunch in the Carlsbad Caverns NP parking lot and then headed to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. There we were amazed at all the cars and kids. We couldn’t find a parking space, so Steve dropped me off to run in and get a map. The park ranger inside told me that we might want to try Frijole Ranch since it was so late in the day. Frijole ranch is a museum and tribute to families who lived in the house in the late 1800's into the 1900's and grew lots of fruit and vegetables on the side of the mountain that was very unlikely to sustain life. The families who lived there found two natural springs and we hiked to see those two springs in the desert. We started the hike close to 3pm in the peak heat of the day and it was not pleasant. We did see Manzanita Spring and Smith Spring on our 2.5 mile hike, but the highlight was finishing the hike! We were too late to see the park film at Guadalupe Mountains National Park so we headed home around 5pm.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park 18 March 2026

Outside the Visitor Center

Carlsbad Caverns National Park 18 March 2026

Outside the Visitor Center

Carlsbad Caverns National Park 18 March 2026

Outside the Visitor Center

Carlsbad Caverns National Park 18 March 2026

Outside the Visitor Center