To All Four Corners of New Mexico

Between Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico and several posts in this blog every corner of New Mexico has been covered in one way or another. Getting to each of them is a unique experience and each one of them is significant in its own way. The one thing that they all have in common is that you have to go out of New Mexico to reach them.

I thought I would summarize them in this blog post.

 

Northwest Corner

As one of Four Corner states, the Northwest Corner of New Mexico is by far and away the most visited of the state’s four corners and is described in Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico. But other than giving you the chance to stand on four states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico) at the same time, it may be the least interesting of New Mexico’s four corners.

The important aspect of the Northwest Corner is that it is a hub for reaching some of the nation’s most spectacular scenery and its greatest National Parks! And its location within the Navajo Nation is a wonderful bonus. The Northwest Corner is very close to where many of the popular Tony and Anne Hillerman Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito novels take place.

For all of the above reasons, the Northwest Corner is well worth checking out while on the way to someplace else. Access to the Four Corners is from U.S. Highway 160 in New Mexico. But since U.S. 160 only cuts across the corner of New Mexico, you’ll have to drive into Colorado or Arizona from New Mexico to reach U.S. 160. Whether you come in from Colorado or Arizona, it will be a fantastic drive.

 

Northeast Corner

The Northeast Corner of the state is an unlikely destination, but it is significant in many many ways and was described to some extent in Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico and in this 2022 blog post.

The Northeast Corner is where New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado come together and was the heart of 1930s Dust Bowl. Since it’s been 90 years since the 1930s, you won’t see mounds of dust or barns buried in dirt, but you will notice very low populations and the National Grasslands that are a direct result of the Dust Bowl. As an added bonus, you can still find traces of the famous Santa Fe Trail throughout the area.

To reach the Northeast Corner of New Mexico, drive into the Oklahoma Panhandle on NM Highway 456. Unlike the rest of Oklahoma, the volcanic features of tall basalt capped mesas that are so common in New Mexico extend into the far western end of the Oklahoma Panhandle. Drive a few more miles east and you’ll leave the tall mesas and find yourself in the relatively flat or rolling topography of the Great Plains.

As you drive to the Preston Monument that marks the junction of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado, you’ll pass the trailhead for the 8.4-mile out-and-back hike to Oklahoma’s High Point on Black Mesa. The High Point itself is only a quarter of a mile from the New Mexico state line and offers fantastic views of many of New Mexico’s volcanic features.

There is also a small dinosaur trackway only one mile from the Oklahoma High Point trailhead. A larger dinosaur trackway can be found at Clayton Lakes State Park near Clayton, New Mexico. And the nation’s largest dinosaur trackway is only 50 miles or so away at Picket Wire Canyon in Colorado. (More information that trackway can be found in this 2024 blog post)

So with the opportunity to check out the 1930s Dust Bowl, the Santa Fe Trail, Oklahoma’s High Point, and dinosaur tracks there is a lot you can pack into a short trip to the Northeast Corner of New Mexico.

 

Southeast Corner

The Southeast Corner of New Mexico sits in the heart of the Permian Basin (the nation’s most productive oil patch). The Permian Basin has made Texas and New Mexico numbers one and two in oil production. No matter which way you go, you’ll see oil wells, man camps, and a bustle of activity. The actual Southeast Corner itself sits in the middle of sand dunes, and you’ll see several sand mining operations in the immediate vicinity. The availability of sand is fortuitous as it is a major component of the oil drilling and extraction process.

But the reason for including the Southeast Corner in Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico is because of its historical significance. When the United States annexed Texas in 1845, Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its border with Mexico. That claim was a bit preposterous as Texas in no way had any influence in the Native and Hispanic communities along the Rio Grande in what is now the State of New Mexico. That claim also led to the border dispute with Mexico that touched off the Mexican War. The Mexican Cession that concluded the war brought more land into the United States including what is now California.

When gold was discovered in California in 1848, it set off a massive Gold Rush. So many gold seekers poured into California that by the end of 1849, California applied to be admitted to the Union as a Free State – a state without slavery. This posed a dilemma. Admitting California would tip the balance between Free and Slave states in favor of the Free states and exacerbate the festering tensions that already existed between the Northern free states and the slave-holding Southern states.

Fearing a breakup of the country and possible civil war, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed a series of bills in 1850 to placate the simmering tensions. That series of tradeoffs became known as the Compromise of 1850.

One of the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 was to settle the exact western boundary of Texas once and for all. Texas would keep El Paso, but the border would go due east from a little bit north of El Paso to 103° West Longitude and then go straight north. Texas would surrender lands to the west of 103°. This would open up land and room for the possibility of future Slave States. As a bonus, Texas would get desperately needed money ($10 million) to pay off debts incurred when Texas was an independent country.

As we all know, the Compromise was only a temporary band-aid and did not stop the Nation from careening into the Civil War. But if you want to experience an oil boom first hand and see a little corner where history was made, you can take a drive to the Southeast Corner of New Mexico. You can find the southeast corner monument, which happens to be quite interesting, by driving east from Jal, New Mexico to the border and then follow Texas FM 1218 south to the corner. Texas FM 1218 hugs the border and is only a few feet from New Mexico.

 

Southwest Corner

After finishing Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico, I realized that I had been to every corner of New Mexico except for the very remote Southwest Corner of the state where Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico converge. I immediately put it on my radar scope to check out. My dog Sparky and I made three trips (and counting) to find it. (See this 2025 blog post.)

For me, getting to the Southwest corner of New Mexico has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. It is absolutely AMAZING! You’ll find a convergence of ecozones full of birds and animals (including jaguars) that you are unlikely to find elsewhere in the country; a rugged mountainous terrain with the Border Wall blasted through the mountains and still unfinished (and what is one of the most expensive section of the Wall); a mixture of Apache and Old West history; and a beautiful and peaceful sycamore-filled canyon. Again, for me, walking through that canyon was absolutely wonderful.

And just getting there is an adventure in itself. You have to start 30 miles west of the Arizona-New Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona. (Douglas is very close to Bisbee and is where my dog Petey and I stayed when we were working on The Bisbee Stairs book.) From Douglas, you’ll drive very close to the Border Wall for much of the way. When you reach the end of the road, you’ll still be in Arizona and still have three miles of hiking to reach the New Mexico state line. From there, it will be well over another mile of rugged hiking, including substantial bushwhacking, to see the corner monument. For me, it was a fantastic adventure!

And with that we have made it to all Four Corners of New Mexico!