Historically the roadside trash may have started with the Butterfield Stagecoach. Apparently the drivers and their shotgun assistants threw so many empty whiskey bottles overboard that years later early aviators used the glint of the broken glass to navigate their way to and from California.  In a relatively short number of years about 400 people where killed along that route.  The whiskey really calmed their nerves for the trip.  Unfortunately there are still a lot of people with unsteady nerves.  

I suspect there are many other places with just as much roadside trash. It is just that the green growth covers it up.  With that said, it is indeed a rare place in New Mexico that you cannot easily find a Bud Light can and a used condom for your scavenger hunt list. I love NM too!

To rest my case, here is a link to a photo of Matthew Lee at the Beaverhead Work Center this year that just poped up on a blog called: "up around the bend."  It sure looks like Bud Light time to me.  In terms of the other item on the scavenger hunt list, I would just say, "Watch where you step!"
http://uparoundthebend.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/oakland-to-silver-city-nm-403.jpg