Otero County topographic maps

The first official use of the High Rolls name was in 1901, when the post office was moved from Fresnal (Wooten) to High Rolls. The name, which was sometimes spelled as one word, Highrolls, supposedly came from the shape and elevation of the area as compared to the sharper peaks higher up.

Average elevation: 2,036 m

The largest employer in the surrounding area is Holloman Air Force Base. La Luz itself is largely residential and agricultural in land use but a small market is located on the state maintained road that connects the village to Highway 70. La Luz has long been known for the many fruits that are grown in the…

Average elevation: 1,487 m

Average elevation: 2,217 m

The first US Army exploration of south-central New Mexico was led by a party of topographical engineering officers in 1849. They passed west of the San Andres Mountains and Organ Mountains. A lieutenant was dispatched east across the basin with a scouting party to map a potential military wagon route to the…

Average elevation: 1,214 m

Average elevation: 2,104 m

Cloudcroft is a village in Otero County, New Mexico, United States, and is located within the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 674 at the 2010 census. Despite being located in an otherwise arid region, its high elevation (8,676 feet (2,644 m) allows for a mild summer and forested surroundings that…

Average elevation: 2,643 m

There are several larger mountain ranges in the Chihuahan Desert, including the Sierra Madre, the Sierra del Carmen, the Organ Mountains, the Franklin Mountains, the Sacramento Mountains, the Chisos Mountains, the Guadalupe Mountains, and the Davis Mountains. These create "sky islands" of cooler, wetter,…

Average elevation: 1,221 m

Average elevation: 1,857 m

As of 2010, Alamogordo had a total area of 19.3 square miles (50.0 km2), all land. The city is located at an elevation of 4,330 feet (1,320 m) on the western flank of the Sacramento Mountains and on the eastern edge of the Tularosa Basin. It lies within the Rio Grande rift and in the northernmost part of the…

Average elevation: 1,427 m

Cloudcroft is a village in Otero County, New Mexico, United States, and is located within the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 674 at the 2010 census. Despite being located in an otherwise arid region, its high elevation (8,676 feet (2,644 m); one of the highest in the U.S.) allows for a mild summer…

Average elevation: 2,636 m

The origins of Sunspot as a Solar Observatory date back to the sudden increased interest of solar physics to the US military during the Second World War. In 1940, the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) was established in 1940 in Climax, Colorado, by Walter Orr Roberts and Donald Menzel. It was associated with…

Average elevation: 2,626 m

Average elevation: 1,371 m