Many think of deserts as barren, lifeless expanses of brown earth and tumbleweeds, but they can be places of surprising beauty, and the Chihuahua Desert has some wonderful surprises. Bubbling out of the desert at Cuatro Cieneges, hundreds of mineral springs form crystalline pools, lagoons, superficial rivers, and salt marshes lined with sedges and bunchgrass. You can wander the adjoining stark-white gypsum dunes on your own, or hire a guide.

Nestled between two spurs of the Sierra Madre Oriental, this protected area forms a rare desert wetland. These grasslands, scrub forest, gypsum dunes, and mineral springs have been protected since 1995. Hundreds of pools are fed by deep subterranean aquifers.

Because of its isolation, this unusual desert wetland has a high ratio of endemic fish and reptiles. Of the 16 known fish species, half are found nowhere else.