Southeastern New Mexico’s MainStreet Communities: Artesia, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Lovington and Roswell
From wide open plains to Sonoran deserts, southeastern New Mexico’s Main Street communities are your gateway to some of America’s most stunning natural wonders.
The wetlands of Bitter Lake lie 9 miles northeast of Roswell. This National Wildlife Refuge is home to some of New Mexico’s most rare and unusual creatures such as the least shrew, Noel’s amphipod, least tern and Roswell spring snail. New Mexico’s first State Park, Bottomless Lake, is about 15 miles south of Roswell. Designated in 1933, this park features swimming, boating, fishing and even scuba diving. The town of Lincoln, home of the Lincoln County War and annual August re-enactments of Billy the Kid’s escape from County Jail, is just 57 miles west of Roswell
As you travel between Artesia and Carlsbad, you’ll find great fishing at Brantley State Park, the southernmost lake in the state.
Continuing south to Carlsbad, you’ll find the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park just two miles out of town. The park is home to one of the best collections of desert life in the U.S., including mountain lions, javelinas, elk, Mexican wolves and bison. A twenty minute drive south will bring you to one of America’s National Park treasures, Carlsbad Caverns. Spectacular formations of stalactites and stalagmites began developing 250 million years ago in over 100 caves hundreds of feet below the earth. To top it off, there is the nightly natural summertime spectacle of 300,000 Mexican freetail bats swarming out of the caverns!
