Most people who visit the Chihuahuan Desert do it in the worst possible light. They come at midday, when the sun flattens the creosote and the heat shimmers off the caliche, and they conclude, reasonably enough, that they are standing in a wasteland. The Asombro Institute for Science Education has spent more than three decades gently correcting that impression. Its newest invitation to skeptics is an after-hours one: Nightlife of the Desert, a free family evening at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park on Friday, October 16, 2026, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
The premise is simple and a little subversive. The desert does not shut down at dusk; it changes shifts. The animals most visitors never see — the ones that hunt, forage, and travel under cover of darkness — are the point of the evening. "Did you know the desert comes to life at night?" the organizers ask, and the event is built around proving it.
Families will gather at the park's outdoor classroom, a 935-acre site about fifteen miles north of Las Cruces at 56501 North Jornada Road. The program mixes hands-on crafts with activities centered on native desert wildlife. Guests can make a bat mask to take home and stroll the park's trails to see what evening animals turn up.
That setting carries a deeper history than most attendees will realize. The nonprofit that runs the park, the Asombro Institute for Science Education, was founded in the early 1990s, and the site was selected on land where the Jornada Experimental Range had already been hosting field trips. The name "Asombro" is Spanish for "wonder," which is exactly what the institute says it is trying to cultivate. Today the organization serves more than 22,000 K-12 students and about 1,500 adults each year through hands-on, inquiry-based science programs in classrooms, schoolyards, and at the park.
The park is more than a trailhead. It has well-kept paths for all ability levels, shaded picnic tables, a xeriscape memorial garden, interpretive signs on desert soils, plants, and wildlife, and a 150-seat outdoor theater that has hosted performances and weddings. Stephanie Bestelmeyer, a biologist and science educator who was hired by Asombro in 2000 and now directs it, has described the place as feeling remote even though it is not far from town — a retreat from the city, flanked by mountains. She is also candid about its limits: there is no visitor center and no flushing toilets, just good trails, picnic areas, and interpretive signs.
The land around it is scientifically significant. The neighboring Jornada Experimental Range, established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1912, is one of the oldest continuously studied rangeland research sites in the country, created in response to the desertification that followed heavy livestock grazing and multi-year drought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1982 the Jornada Basin became a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research site, and the collaboration among the USDA, New Mexico State University, and other institutions continues today. Asombro has leaned into that proximity, working with the USDA and NMSU to make the park a resource for both research and K-12 education.
The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest of North America's deserts, and the park sits at its northern edge, at an average elevation around 4,500 feet. From the park, the desert stretches roughly 200 miles north and 600 miles south, with most of its 250,000 square miles lying in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, for which it is named. It is also one of the most biologically diverse deserts on the planet — first among deserts for the number of mammal species and aquatic species, and home to more than 300 kinds of cacti. Four plants dominate the park itself: creosote bush, honey mesquite, tarbush, and crucifixion thorn. The park's self-guided Desert Discovery Trail booklet walks visitors through archaeology, geology, soils, plants, and animals, and the institute offers a virtual tour of the same route for anyone who wants a preview.
Nightlife of the Desert is one of several public programs Asombro runs at the park each year, alongside offerings such as the Desert Data Jam, a middle-school competition that challenges students to present scientific data to non-scientist audiences. The evening event is funded in part by a grant to Asombro from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish's Share with Wildlife program. That program is supported through license plate sales and direct donations, and it funds wildlife habitat enhancement, education, rehabilitation, and research projects across the state.
Admission to Nightlife of the Desert is free, though Asombro welcomes donations to support its education programs and the park. The event runs 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 16, 2026, at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park, 56501 North Jornada Road, Las Cruces. Visitors should note that the park sits a few miles off the nearest paved road, so the drive in is part of the experience — and by the time they leave, the desert they drove through in daylight will have shown them a different face.