4 Best Sights in Northeastern New Mexico, New Mexico

Sugarite Canyon State Park, a gem of a park near the Colorado state line, has some of the state's best hiking, camping, wildflower viewing, fishing, and bird-watching ("sugarite" is a corruption of the Comanche word chicorica, meaning "an abundance of birds," and is pronounced shug-ur-eet). The road to Sugarite twists and turns high up into the canyon to Lake Maloya, a trout-stocked body of water from which a spillway carries overflow down into the canyon. From its 7,800-foot elevation hills rise up the eastern and western canyon walls where miners once dug for ore; you can still see gray slag heaps and remnants of the coal camp, which thrived here from 1910 to 1940, along portions of the park road near the visitor center (the former coal-camp post office) and down near the base of the canyon. The center contains exhibits on the mining legacy, and from here you can hike 1½ mi to the original camp.

Hikes elsewhere in the park range from the easy ½-mi Grande Vista Nature Trail to the pleasant 4-mi jaunt around Lake Maloya to the challenging Opportunity Trail. "Caprock" is the name given to the park's striking basaltic rock columns, which were formed millions of years ago when hot lava from a nearby volcano created the 10- to 100-foot-thick rocks. Climbing is permitted on these sheer cliffs, although it's not recommended for the faint of heart.

You can view more than 500 fossilized dinosaur tracks along the ½-mi wooden Dinosaur Trackway at Clayton Lake State Park, making this one of the few sites of its kind in the world. The tracks, estimated to be 100 million years old, were made when the area was the shore of a prehistoric sea. Eight species of dinosaurs, vegetarian and carnivorous, lived here. The sparkling lake that gives the state park its name is ideal for camping, hiking, and fishing.

Costumed reenactments at Kit Carson Museum demonstrate 19th-century life on what was then the Maxwell Land Grant, but is now part of the incredible Philmont Ranch. Exhibits include a working horno (oven), blacksmith shop, and the Maxwell Trading Post—stocked as it might have been during Santa Fe Trail days. Period crafts are also demonstrated, and free tours are given.

If you've got animal-loving kids with you, stop by Victory Ranch, a working 1,100-acre alpaca farm. You can pet the high-altitude–loving creatures and join in the feeding three times daily (at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm) as well as visit the gift shop for Peruvian-made hats, sweaters, and mittens. The ranch is handicapped-accessible.