White Sands National Park is one of America’s best natural wonders and a must see when you are in the Southwest.

In this article I will share with you things that you can do around the park to enjoy White Sands National Park to the fullest.

Where is White Sands?

The monument is located in southern New Mexico in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. The visitor center is located off of Highway US-70 between Alamogordo and las Cruces.

If you are using your GPS or Google maps to get to the monument, make sure you search for “White Sands National Park”  to avoid being routed to White Sands Missile Range.

To get a Geo-referenced map or fore more details on directions, checkout the National Park Service website https://www.nps.gov/whsa/planyourvisit/maps.htm

Why is it called “White Sands”?

The name says it all and it is truly as white as it looks. The monument is famous for its dramatic landscape of rare white sand dunes thanks to the composition of gypsum and calcium sulfate, making it the world’s largest gypsum dune field with a size of 275 square miles.

What can I do in White Sands?

There are plenty of activities to enjoy in White Sands.

Driving

Dunes Drive is a 16 mile round-trip scenic drive from the visitor center into the heart of the dune fields that takes approximately 45 minutes.

Hiking

The rangers at the Visitor center are very knowledge and should be able to answer all your questions and suggest hiking trail for you. There are five established trails for hikers:

• Interdune Boardwalk
• Playa Trail
• Dune Life Natural Trail
• Background Camping Trail
• Alkali Flat Trail

There are also free guided group tours that you can join. I joined the last tour available for the day 30 minutes before the sunset (One of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen)

I highly recommend going on a tour to learn more about how White Sands was formed, the geological formations, vegetation and wildlife in the site.

Photography

If you are an avid photographer this is definitely the right place for you. I will let you enjoy some of my favorite photos I took with my iPhone 7 plus and you can be the judge.

Camping

For backpackers, this is a great spot to camp. However, you need to keep in mind that:

• You cannot make reservations before hand
• There is a limited number of camping spots and it is on a first come first served basis
• The earliest you show up the better

I was enable to secure a spot for myself to camp but there are plenty of camping areas outside of the National Park, few miles away. I ended up camping outside of the site and I had a good experience overall.

Horse riding

The site is open for horse riding with a permit that you can get at the visitor center. I did not get a chance to ride a horse but it looks like a lot of fun. Checkout https://www.nps.gov/whsa/planyourvisit/horses-and-other-pack-animals.htm for more details on what you need in order to ride there.

Cycling

Dunes Drive is also open for bicyclists to enjoy the view while working some muscles out.

Sledding

This is the most fun part of being in White Sands for both kids and adults. At the visitor center you can purchase/rent a dish and enjoy some sledding.

I highly encourage you to visit this beautiful site and enjoy what the desert has to offer.