Inn of the Mountain Gods
Near Ruidoso, New Mexico
About four miles from downtown Ruidoso, on Carrizo Canyon Road, a resort sits on the edge of a mountain lake with Sierra Blanca rising behind it. This is the Inn of the Mountain Gods, and it is owned and operated by the Mescalero Apache Tribe, one of the boldest examples anywhere of a Native nation building an economy on its own terms and its own land. The heart of the property is a championship golf course famed for an island fairway and fast-breaking greens, all of it framed by pine forest and high peaks.
Over the years the resort grew into a full destination with a large hotel, an indoor pool, a full-service spa, half a dozen places to eat, and a large casino floor. People come to gamble and golf, but many come simply for the view, for that combination of alpine water and mountain that you do not expect to find in southern New Mexico. Every dollar spent here supports the tribe that has called this country home far longer than the resort has stood.
