Prehistoric Trackways National Monument preserves an extraordinary concentration of Permian-era fossil trackways — footprints and traces left by insects and reptiles some 280 million years ago. The site is located in the Robledo Mountains, a low range west of Las Cruces, and has produced thousands of individual track specimens, many of exceptional scientific significance. Some of the insect tracks preserved here are the longest known Permian invertebrate trails in the world.
The monument is not heavily developed for visitors — access is via a gravel road, and facilities are minimal. But the fossils visible at the site are genuinely impressive: large reptile footprints in desert rock, with the detail of individual toes still clear after 280 million years. The Bureau of Land Management offers periodic ranger-guided tours that bring the site's science to life; check their website for the schedule before visiting.
The experience is best for visitors with a serious interest in paleontology or geological history. Children with a dinosaur obsession will be fascinated, though it requires explaining that these predate the dinosaurs by some 50 million years.