Northeastern New Mexico
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Northeastern New Mexico - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Cimarron Canyon State Park
Scenic DriveOne of the most breathtaking stretches of highway in the state is U.S. 64 west from Cimarron through Cimarron Canyon State Park, which is actually just one small part of the immense 33,000-acre Colin Neblett Wildlife Area. The road passes through a steep and lush canyon banked by 400-foot crenellated granite palisades. Paralleling the road is the sparkling Cimarron River, which is known for its superb trout fishing. Wildlife (including elk, deer, and bear), granite cliff formations, a natural spring, an abandoned mine, and a visitor center are also draws. There's a campground beneath the pines, too, with spaces for RVs (no hookups) and tents, picnic tables, and pit toilets.
Cimarron, New Mexico, USA575-377–6271Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5 per vehicle -
2. Coyote Creek State Park
Park (National/State/Provincial)The Rincon Mountains rise to 9,500 feet to the west of NM 434, and to the east (a left turn off the highway) you can stop for a ramble at Coyote Creek State Park, which also has exceptionally good trout fishing and some campsites.
Cimarron, New Mexico, USA575-387–2328Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5 -
3. Eagle Nest Lake
ViewpointWest of Cimarron Canyon State Park, U.S. 64 passes over a high bald ridge, from which you'll be awarded a magnificent view over Eagle Nest Lake, the Moreno Valley, and the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the distance. Continue down through Eagle Nest Lake village toward Angel Fire. Then make a left turn (south) onto NM 434, which passes little Black Lake and offers one final view of the valley before narrowing sharply and plummeting into dark, deep, ponderosa pine–shrouded Guadalupita Canyon. Drive slowly: the road twists and turns and crosses several one-lane bridges over Coyote Creek.
Cimarron, New Mexico, USA -
4. El Turquillo
Town/VillageSouth of Coyote Creek State Park on NM 434, you'll pass through tiny, insular El Turquillo. Here the highway widens as it opens into a broad sunny valley—to the east you'll spy the red-rock cliffs that form the face of Black Mesa, the land barrier between here and the eastern grasslands.
Cimarron, New Mexico, USA -
5. Kit Carson Museum
Museum/GalleryCostumed 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.
NM 21, 11 mi south of Cimarron, Rayado, New Mexico, 87714, USA575-376–1136Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Old Mill Museum
The workers who toiled inside the sturdy, steep-roofed stone building that holds the Old Mill Museum once processed 300 barrels of flour a day for the Maxwell Ranch and the Jicarilla Apache reservation. Now the mill houses four floors of vintage photos, clothing, tools, and memorabilia depicting life in Colfax County from the 1860s into the 20th century.
220 W. 17th St., Cimarron, New Mexico, 87119, USA575-376–2417Sight Details
Rate Includes: $2, Late May–early Sept., hrs vary; call ahead -
7. Philmont Scout Ranch
The largest scouting venue in the world, 137,000-acre Philmont Scout Ranch has hosted nearly 1 million Boy Scouts throughout its history—about 21,000 currently visit every summer, and on any given day about 3,000 of them are out plying the property's miles of rugged trails. Phillips Petroleum magnate and Boy Scouts of American benefactor Waite Phillips established the mountainous ranch. The museums of the Philmont Scout Ranch include Villa Philmonte, the restored 1927 Spanish-Mediterranean summer home of Waite Phillips, furnished with European and Southwestern antiques and Native American and Southwestern art. Tours of the mansion are conducted in July and August. Scouting cofounder Ernest Thompson Seton donated most of the holdings of the Philmont Museum & Seton Memorial Library, among them New Mexican art and artifacts, Native American rugs and pottery, and books on natural history and the history of the Southwest.
17 Deer Run Rd., Cimarron, New Mexico, 87714, USA575-376–2281Sight Details
Rate Includes: Museum free, villa tour $5, Museum Sept.–May, Mon.–Sat. 8–5; June–Aug., daily 8–5. Villa tours late May–early Sept. by appointment -
8. St. James Hotel
With 27 bullet holes in the tin dining-room ceiling, resident ghosts profiled on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, and a guest book signed by Jesse James, the St. James Hotel epitomizes the Wild West. Every notable outlaw of the late 19th century is said to have visited the place. Chef to presidents Lincoln and Grant, Frenchman Henri Lambert opened the St. James first as a saloon in 1872 and then eight years later developed it into a hotel. The lobby is filled with Western Victoriana: overstuffed sofas; stuffed heads of bison, elk, deer, and bear on the walls; and fringe on the lamp shades.
617 S. Collison Ave., Cimarron, New Mexico, 87119, USA575-376–2664Sight Details
Rate Includes: Tours daily between 10 and 4 -
9. Trampas and Truchas Peaks
Scenic DriveAs you come around a bend in NM 434 heading from El Turquillo toward Mora, behold the Sangre de Cristo range, specifically the east side of Trampas and Truchas peaks, from an angle few tourists ever see. Just before Mora and the intersection with NM 518 is an intricate network of irrigation ditches that farmers employ to keep this region so fertile.
Cimarron, New Mexico, USA -
10. Valle Vidal
Scenic DriveOne of New Mexico's great, although quite isolated, scenic routes heads northwest from U.S. 64 toward the town of Costillo (44 mi north of Taos on NM 522), affording great opportunities for sighting elk, deer, wild turkeys, and many other birds. The roughly 80-mi dirt road requires several hours of driving to complete—although it's okay for non–four-wheel-drive vehicles in summer and fall (assuming there hasn't been a major rainfall in a couple of days and you're comfortable driving on some pretty rough roads). The trip passes through the heart of pristine Valle Vidal, a remote 102,000-acre tract of high-mountain grasslands, ponderosa, aspen, and sandstone cliffs. The fishing (season is July to December) in this region is mighty fine—the native Rio Grande cutthroat trout is found only in the rivers here—and there are two campgrounds, Cimarron and McCrystal. The western section of the road is closed May through June for elk-calving season, and the eastern section is closed to protect the elks January through March. (for information on conservation efforts and history of Valle Vidal, visit www.vallevidal.org)
Off U.S. 64, turnoff is 8 mi east of Cimarron, Cimarron, New Mexico, 87524, USA575-758–6200
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