The north-south-trending San Andres Mountains of south-central New Mexico, with several peaks exceeding 8000 feet (2438 meters), extend diagonally across the desert landscape northeast of Las Cruces (barely discernible in the upper left of the photograph). Visible are the Tularosa Valley, the desert area east of the San Andres Mountains; the southwest corner of White Sands National Monument; a small section of the Rio Grande along the western side of Las Cruces; and dark cultivated fields in the floodplain of the Rio Grande.