We first visited White Sands weeks before it formally became a National Park. But, being sticklers for the integrity of our quest, we just had to visit again AFTER it had earned its NP status. Both visits were cool and it’s a fun park to adventure in for a day.
We visited White Sands in November 2019 and November 2021.
Getting There
White Sands is easy to visit and is a few miles from Alamogordo, New Mexico. We didn’t camp in the park (not sure if you can), but there are plenty of RV and hotel options in town. On the main street, there are tons of places to eat. When we’re in NM, we always go for something covered in Hatch green chili. Entrance to the park is a few miles from town and easy to reach. The visitor center is just inside the gate and there’s a road that loops through the park with lots of places to park and hike.
Alkali Flat
Trail
There’s a film in the visitor center that will teach you about how the park came to be and that the sand is made from gypsum, which gives it the bright white color. Plus there are the requisite warnings about venturing out in the park when it’s super hot. My advice – visit between November and March. Even then, it can be toasty, so have sunscreen. Anyway, the road winds it way back to the trailhead for the Alkali Flat Trail which is marked by periodic posts/flags in the sand, but they’re spread out far enough that it’s a bit of an adventure. The trail takes you out a couple miles from the road and the dunes are high enough that you can’t see anything buy white sands and the occasional scrub brush. It’s definitely a different hike, but fun nonetheless, just bring lots of water.
Manhattan
Project
Manhattan Project – Although not part of the park, the Trinity Site where they exploded the first atomic bomb is about 60 miles north of the park in the White Sands Missile Range. And no, the bomb had nothing to do with creating the dunes. But since we were in the area, between Alamogordo and Los Alamos, NM, we toured various historical sites and learned a ton about the Manhattan Project. Super interesting. Then they made the Oppenheimer movie, so we got to learn it all again.
White Sands National Park is really interesting and an easy one to do in a day. I don’t know that it ever gets super crowded, but just do it on a day that’s below 90F if you can.