Nogal / Capitan / Carrizozo

Nogal is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 96 as of the 2010 census. Nogal has a post office with ZIP code 88341, which opened on November 9, 1880. New Mexico State Road 37 passes through the community.

Capitan is a village in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States, located north of the Lincoln National Forest between the Capitan and Sacramento Mountains at an elevation of 6,530 feet. The population was 1,443 at the 2000 census. Capitan was founded in the 1890s and incorporated in 1941. Capitan is the home of rancher and businessman Edward R. Tinsley, III, owner of the K-Bob's Steakhouse restaurant chain. Author Elizabeth Fackler also makes her home in Capitan. She is the author of novels, short stories and poetry. Her novel, "My Eyes Have a Cold Nose", won the best historical fiction category of the New Mexico Book Awards in 2009.

Carrizozo is a town in Lincoln County, New Mexico and is the county seat with a population of 996 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1899, the town provided the main railroad access for Lincoln County, and the town experienced significant population growth in the early decades of the 1900s. Carrizozo is located at the northern point of the Tularosa Basin which extends southward to the New Mexico-Texas border. The town itself is located in a flat area known prior to the founding of the town as the Corrizo flats, with typical Chihuahua desert scrub. To the west of the town is the Carrizozo Malpais, a 40 mile long lava flow that is about 1,500 years old and accessible through the Valley of Fires Recreation Area. To the northeast is the Carrizo mountain, a 9,000-foot peak, and to the southeast are the Sacramento Mountains.

source: wikipedia.org