"Not very inspiring countryside" Top 5 Page for this destination Carlsbad Favorite Tip by Bwana_Brown

Favorite thing: I'd have to say that the rolling terrain of southeast New Mexico is some of the least attractive I have seen anywhere. My earlier trip to New Mexico involved the central to northeast part of the state, a beautiful mountainous area with lots of trees and river valleys providing some great scenery. Making the situation worse in the Carlsbad area is the fact that it is rich in oil, natural gas and potash - leading to mines, power stations and well-head pumps located all over the place. To make things worse, it means that major power lines and smaller distribution ones to run the pumps criss-cross the landscape no matter how far from civilization you think you are. Most of our 5-hour drive down from Albuquerque took us through the same sort of terrain including Roswell, the 'flying saucer' city. There was a good reason why the US Government set off the world's first Atomic blast at Alamagordo - not far west of Carlsbad!

Fondest memory: The nearest escape from Carlsbad for a bit of scenery is up on the hills of the Living Desert State Park or a bit further west and south as you enter the Guadaloupe Mountain range - which actually has its own National Park (in Texas) not far from Carlsbad Caverns.