White Sands National Park - the Perfect Day!

Our quest to visit all National Parks began several years ago. It has been a fantastic adventure. Not only have we relished 53 National Parks, so far, but have explored and now more fully appreciate the differing regions in our own country!

As we near completion of our quest you can imagine the mixed feelings we have when we read about a “new” National Park. There were 58 National Parks when we began and now there are 63. The land in these new parks is usually already protected but for some reason “gets promoted” and that reason and the benefits aren’t always clear. The toughest part, for us, is that we must return to a region that we have already explored.  

White Sands National Park, NM is a good example. Designated as a National Monument in 1933, White Sands was promoted to a National Park in December 2019. But alas we must complete are quest, so we add a detour, on our way to Tucson from our home in Seattle in the winter of 2023, to visit our 54th National Park!

After a painless three-hour flight we land in El Paso, TX just as the sun sets behind the Franklin Mountains creating a beautiful warm, red glow. I recall the lovely downtown where we are staying for the night - a nice combination of modern and historic, from our first National Park trip to the area.

White Sands National Park, NM Pueblo Revival visitor center, 1933

Less than a two-hour drive from El Paso gets us to the wonderful White Sands Pueblo Revival style visitor center built in 1933.

We learn from the informative movie, that White Sands is unique in that gypsum creates these “white sand dunes” as opposed to the usual quartz of other dunes. Millions of years ago the Permian Sea retreated leaving behind layers of gypsum. The San Andres Mountains and the Sierra Blanca Peaks rose carrying the gypsum layers high. Glaciers, rain and snow have carried this mineral back down to the Tularosa Basin over time. Southwesterly winds disperse the gypsum creating the dunes.

This gypsum field is the largest in the world at 275 acres, half of which is protected, and can be seen from space! Gypsum is a commercial product used mostly in plaster board but also in toilet paper, toothpaste and tofu.

Dunes Drive, the only road, takes us into the park. Luckily, we don’t get stopped on the way in, as many do, if missiles are being tested at the nearby White Sands Missile Range.  

These are the most beautiful dunes we’ve ever seen. We are in awe! The sand is so white it glistens in the sun - it’s like being in the bright snow on a sunny day.

White gypsum sand at White Sands National Park, NM

We decide to take one trail at a time and learn about the wildlife and vegetation which decreases further into the park. First up is the .5-mile Playa Trail which introduces us to the vegetation – yucca, sumac and sand verbena and their strategies for survival; grow tall, hold on or grow fast.

Next up is the 1-mile Dune Life Nature Trail which shows us the nocturnal wildlife and their tracks – cougar, bobcats, rabbit, fox, mice, snakes, birds, reptiles and bats. Very few are seen during the day by visitors. Afterwards we do a quick walk on the Inter-dune boardwalk to further explore the plants and animals.

Finally, we do a 2 mile walk through the closed Backcountry Camping Area loop among 30-foot-high dunes giving us the full experience – dunes, plants, mountains, views and even a few animal tracks! It would be very cool to sleep out here. Walking in the dunes is much easier than we expected because the feathery light gypsum gets packed down by the wind.

San Andres Mountains and dunes at White Sands Dunes National Park, NM

It’s chilly today but we still get plenty of sun even with sunscreen. I can’t even imagine coming here in the summer!

We don’t have time for the 5-mile Alkali Flat Trail, which isn’t flat, looping around 60-foot-high vegetation free dunes. But we are ok with that having already learned about and explored the park.

As we continue the drive on packed gypsum, the biggest activity, in addition to hiking, is sledding which appears to be enjoyed by families that live close by.

We depart the park and drive an hour to Las Cruces thru the spectacular Organ Mountains, where we’ll spend the night before driving another four hours to Tucson.

Needles to say, this new park, our 54th, was out of the way for us but uniquely spectacular and well worth the trip. It was the perfect day!

If you go:

1.       Fall, winter and spring are the time to go. I wouldn’t even consider visiting in the summer due to the pronounced heat among the white sand.

2.       White Sands is easily done in a day or overnight if you want to walk all the trails, including the five-mile Alkali Flat Trail. Some suggest going to that trail first. We preferred our relaxed day exploring all aspects of the dunes.

3.       We had already visited Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns, and Guadalupe Mountains on another trip. White Sands can easily be added on to that loop exploring all these Parks in one trip.

4.       It’s a photogenic landscape. Bring you camera!

5.       Don’t forget a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and water no matter the season!

 Click here to see what inspires our goal of visiting all 63 National Parks and to check our progress.

Check out Carlsbad Caverns, Big Bend, and Guadalupe National Parks - Texas and New Mexico.

And check out the National Park Gallery!