Lincoln National Forest

Sitting Bull Falls in Lincoln National Forest.

Lincoln National Forest is known as the birthplace of Smokey Bear, the living symbol of the campaign to prevent forest fires. The original Smokey the Bear is buried in Capitan, N.M.

The Lincoln includes three major mountain ranges, the Sacramento, Guadalupe and Capitan, and covers 1.1 million acres. Elevations of 4,000 to 11,500 feet pass through five different ecological zones from the Chihuahuan desert to subalpine forest. Vegetation ranges from rare cacti in the lower elevations to Englemann spruce in the higher.

Most of the forest is available for picnicking, camping, hiking, horseback riding, trail bike riding, fishing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and snowshoeing.

The popular, 15-mile Sunspot Scenic Byway orginates two miles south of Cloudcroft and ends at the Sacramento Peak Solar Observatory, visitor center, and Apache Point Stellar Observatory. Visitors can see portions of the majestic Sacramento Mountains, with panoramic views of the Tularosa Basin.