WHITE SANDS

Last Updated on September 12, 2023 by

White Sands National Park encompasses over 145,000 acres and is the largest gypsum dunefield on the planet. Typically, gypsum dissolves in water, but the unique combination of weather patterns and isolation in the Tularosa Basin allow the gypsum fields to exist.

How much time should I spend?
A half day to drive the loop and hike at least a few of the trails. We would highly recommend making it a full day and staying for a sunset Ranger walk.

It also happens to be completely surrounded by White Sands Missile Range, so leave the boundary markers at your peril.

Unfortunately, I am ambivalent about this trip. On the one hand, the endless fields of gypsum were pretty incredible to see, and the fact that they use a snowplow to keep the roads clear was pretty entertaining.

On the other hand, the dunes don’t mound higher than 30 or 40 feet, so the sand dunes in Death Valley, while smaller in land mass, are actually more impressive (even though they are an entirely different composition).

I did thoroughly enjoy sledding down them on our $7 flying saucer the gift shop banged us $25 for though. We also bought the wax – upsell masters a used car salesman could respect. Although to be fair, the wax would have been pretty useful. Despite it looking incredibly soft and snowy, the gypsum was pretty tough on the sled and the wax definitely would have made the early runs easier. Sadly, we left the wax in the car and neither of us was particularly enthusiastic about going back to get it. Climbing back up the hill was bad enough, and let us know just how little hiking we have done since leaving Glacier.

There are also five hiking trails in the park. Don’t believe the hype – even the short trails are a slog through the sand as anyone who has ever walked on a beach can attest. It can also get VERY hot, so drink more water than you think is necessary. To be perfectly honest, I did not find the scenery to be all that different on any of the hikes, so unless you are trying to prove something to yourself, take advantage of a few of the shorter trails or hike the one long trail.

• Dune Life Nature Trail – a one mile flat route close to the front of the park
• Playa Trail – a half mile trail almost directly across the street from Dune Life
• Interdune Boardwalk – a half mile boardwalk with a nice covered gazebo at the end with a few photo ops along the way
• White Sands Backcountry Trail – one of the few 1.8 mile trails you will see listed as moderately challenging, and it is not an exaggeration. This does happen to be a great trail to take your sled so you can punish yourself twice as much
• Alkali Flat Trail – a 4.7 mile loop hike you will definitely want to tackle early or late in the day

We also took the sunset stroll with one of the NPS volunteers, a very earnest 20 something who is surely going to change the world, just ask her. However, she did come chuck a buck full of knowledge about the flora, fauna, and history of the park, and if I am completely honest, I am immensely jealous of her chosen career path. It is difficult to fathom there are more species of bird native to White Sands than there are in the Everglades and more varieties of plant than Yellowstone. Unlike those two parks, at White Sands you have to be really, really lucky to see any of it, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

The highlight of the trip for me was definitely the sunset stroll. Our guide couldn’t have been better and it also provided an absolutely picture perfect sunset that a camera lens simply cannot capture adequately.