The incredible spanse of the over 257 square miles of glistening sand of New Mexico’s White Sands National Park is a sight to behold. This park, located in the middle of the Tularosa Basin, was designated as a national park to preserve this amazing dunefield and the flora and fauna that call this land home. Visitors will love hiking, or “sledding” down the dunes, made of a fine while sand of broken down gypsum, a mineral. White Sands was established as a national monument in 1933 and re-designated as a national park in 2019, and is truly an other-worldly sight to behold…
Our family arrived at White Sands National Park in the late afternoon, after having driven from Tucson, Arizona, where we had visited Saguaro National Park. Our plan was to hit the Visitor Center first-thing before it closed that evening, and spend the sunset hours enjoying the beauty of White Sands. Little did we know JUST how gorgeous it would be!
After a stop at the Visitor Center, and reuniting with our cousins from Seattle, whom we had planned to meet there, we were on our way. At the Visitor Center, we were able to procure some sleds for our enjoyment that evening, and then we began our drive into the park. Justin and I both laughed aloud as we drove into the park, and, after a few minutes on a paved road, were all of a sudden driving on the sand.
We arrived at our first destination, the short boardwalk hike, which led us on a raised platform above the sand dunes. This walk also had many guided stops with information, which gave us a great introduction to the park and its inhabitants.
The kids were thrilled to be with their cousins, some of our favorite road trip companions.
After our first stop along the loop road (which runs throughout the entire park, and can be driven start to finish in about 45 minutes if you don’t stop), we stopped again about 10 minutes later to do some sledding on the dunes at Alkali Flats. The kids had so much fun sledding, playing in the sand, and running up and down the dunes. The super-fine sand was amazing to feel on our feet, made from a mineral called gypsum. This sand was cool to the touch, as it does not absorb heat like traditional sand. We were grateful for this, and amazed at how cool it felt, even on a really hot summer day.
After sledding for some time, we continued to our final stop for the evening, where we did some more sledding, and watched the sun set over the dunes. The rainbow colors reflected in the sky, and the blue tint of the white dunes was other-worldly, and one of the most gorgeous sites I have seen in my life. It was 9pm when we left the park (the park closed at 9, or we would have likely stayed longer!), and such an amazing way to spend our evening together in White Sands.
The next morning, we woke up bright at early to explore the park some more before it got too hot. Our destination – the Alkali Flat Trail.
Since it was a hot day, we opted to do only part of this trail, hiking about 1.5 miles each way, for a total distance of a little over 3 miles. We did the hike barefoot, as we knew that otherwise our shoes would entirely fill with sand, and that worked out great (almost like getting a pedicure, the sand really helped exfoliate the skin on our feet!). The views of the dunes as we hiked were remarkable.
After our hike, we returned to our RV park, the Alamogordo / White Sands KOA, which we found to be a lovely destination for our stay near White Sands. The kids particularly loved the swimming pool, and the amazing clubhouse game room, complete with a foosball table, ping pong table, and games, puzzles, and books. We enjoyed the afternoon and evening relaxing and spending time together.
White Sands, you are breathtaking!
