SAN ANDRES MOUNTAINS

segment of the southern Rocky Mountains, extending southward for 150 miles (241 km) through Socorro, Sierra, and Dona Ana counties in southern New Mexico and parallel to the Rio Grande. Salinas Peak (9,040 feet ) is the highest point in the range. The mountains are dry and barren and include the White Sands Missile Range, where the world's first atomic bomb was exploded on July 16, 1945, at Trinity Site. The White Sands National Monument lies just to the east.