Cloudcroft
A pine-forest mountain village at about 2,600 m, only 30 km from Alamogordo but more than ten degrees cooler than the basin, a good place to escape the heat or play in the snow.
Cloudcroft sits on top of the Sacramento Mountains. It grew up in 1899 with the arrival of the railway and is now a mountain village of old wooden houses. Its main street, Burro Avenue, has cafés, antique shops and barbecue restaurants. Summers are much cooler than in the valley below, making it the first choice for basin residents seeking relief from the heat. In autumn the aspens turn yellow, and in winter there is a small ski area and snow tubing slopes. The surrounding Lincoln National Forest has many hiking and mountain-biking trails, and the historic 1899 hotel, the Lodge Resort, is said to be haunted. From Alamogordo, the drive up Highway 82 takes about 30 minutes and passes a tunnel viewpoint and the Mexican Canyon Trestle.
Opening hours
All day
Nearby sights
- Mexican Canyon Trestle
- New Mexico Museum of Space History
- Sunspot Solar Observatory
- Tularosa Basin Museum of History
- Alameda Park Zoo
- McGinn's PistachioLand
- Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
- White Sands National Park