Places From the Backwoods Wants to Go

In 1967, murder and mayhem disrupted the tranquility along this quiet stretch of Old Route 66.

The final resting place of the living embodiment of the famous Forest Service symbol.

The remains of a historic ranch house that witnessed the Civil War battle dubbed the “Gettysburg of the West.”

The building stands within a quiet, postcard-perfect New Mexico village.

The symbol was surreptitiously built into the river bank by German prisoners of war.

At this research institute, the chile is king.

The outcropping is graffitied with the name of the beloved musical Muppet television series.

Recycling meets art in this colorful barricade.

More than 21,000 images fill this overlooked gem of a prehistoric site.

The site of Billy the Kid’s most famous escape and the end to the Lincoln County War.

Albuquerque found the perfect use for tumbleweeds at Christmastime.

A warm desert spring holds one of the rarest species on earth.

This southwest-styled home in Santa Fe claims to be the oldest house in America thanks to an ancient bit of foundation.

When life gave this firefighter a forest fire, he made a rough-hewn sculpture park using a chainsaw.

This highest peak in New Mexico is named after an explorer who had a habit of lending his moniker to peaks.

Reproductions of nine banned oil paintings coyly hidden behind a curtain in a New Mexico conference room.

A one-of-a-kind sundial at the Very Large Array honors a radio astronomy pioneer, incorporating the original piers from his breakthrough radio telescope.

In the middle of a desert subdivision, there is supposedly an impact crater site from Kcymaerxthaereal times.

A serene garden path lined with 36 haiku stamped into clay stones.

A half-acre utopia in the New Mexico desert features a graveyard, a game of horseshoes, a library, and a mailbox.

Buried beneath the New Mexico sands are believed to be millions of copies of Atari's E.T. video game.

The ruins of this abandoned fort now stand as a picturesque reminder of America's march West.

Crumbling remnants of what was once a booming town full of silver.

An abandoned amusement park based on the popular 1940s Red Ryder comic strip.