The Valle Vidal is a 100,000-acre, high-elevation alpine basin in New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It is spectacular, from the winding oxbow ribbon of Rio Costilla to the vast, open valleys. Part of the Carson National Forest, the area serves as a crucial habitat for the state’s largest elk herd and offers year-round outdoor recreation, like hiking, camping, and fishing.

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Located at the north end of the Tularosa Basin, Valley of Fires is one of the youngest lava flows in the continental U.S., 4-6 miles wide, 160 feet thick, covering 125 square miles. Little Black Peak erupted about 5000 years ago, with lava oozing 44 miles into the Tularosa Basin.

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Bandera Crater is a large cinder cone that erupted approximately 10,000 years ago, creating a 23-mile lava flow & a lava tube system that includes an ice cave. The ice cave is a collapsed lava tube with natural, perpetual ice, the oldest layers of which are over 3,400 years old.

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