White Sands

I visited White Sands in 2017, at the start of a big road trip in the Southwest that also took me to Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, and Carlsbad Caverns. At the time, this park was still technically a national monument, but I was so amazed by it that I remember saying “This place should be a national park!” Two years later, it was rightfully upgraded to park status. This huge expanse of white gypsum sand dunes stretches on for miles in a wide open basin tucked underneath the San Andres Mountains. You can pretty much wander around the dunes wherever you like, as there aren’t really trails here. You can even camp out on the dunes, which we didn’t get to do, but I would love to come back and experience one day. The ripples and textures found in the sand were really fascinating to study up close, and we had a lot of fun traipsing over the sand and studying the few plants that can grow here. We stayed until sunset and got to watch the light and shadows change across the sand dunes as day turned to night. This is a really magical place!