White Sands National Monument

White Sands National Monument was one of our favorite stops along our road trip from California to Florida. Imagine you’re driving on the freeway through the New Mexico desert, and all of the sudden you see big hills of sand that span almost 300 square miles! While we were driving through the park, we literally kept looking at each other like, “is this real?!” It’s so beautiful! I wanted to do a quick guide on the National Monument so that if you are ever able to visit this wonderful landmark, you can make the most of it. 

Where to stay: When I was researching places to stay around the monument, the options were pretty slim. The closest RV parks were over 15 miles away. I ended up booking the closest one, which was White Sands RV Community in Alamogordo. Booking the closest RV park seemed logical to me at the time; however, because we were headed East, it actually added driving time to stay in Alamogordo. The day we were arriving, we actually drove past the National Park to get to our RV spot. We planned on spending the following day at White Sands, so we got up and had to backtrack to get there, then when we left, drive back through the small town where we had stayed the night to continue to Texas. If you are headed east like we were, I would highly recommend staying in Las Cruces, NM, which is west of White Sands. It is under an hour drive to the monument, and the town of Las Cruces has much more going for it than Alamogordo does, and more options regarding RV parks, restaurants, and things to do. 

What is White Sands? I’m totally paraphrasing this from their pamphlet because I was thoroughly confused about how perfect, fluffy, clean, white sand could span for miles and miles in the middle of a desert?! Haha so, apparently there was an ancient sea in this area years ago, and when it retreated, it left a mineral called gypsum that has been dissolved to sand by melting glaciers, rain, and snow! There is a TON of other interesting geology and mineralogy behind this, but that is the short version. It is a neat biological habitat as well, so there is an array of information to learn while there if that’s something that peaks your interest!

What to do: We were only there for half a day because we had planned other things in Texas, but we almost considered cancelling reservations and staying another night because the park is so huge and there’s so much to explore. We had our trailer in tow, so we were a little nervous about parking. They allowed our trailer in (which is great if you’re just passing through as well) and said wherever we could find parking along the way, we were welcome to. There are several parking lots along the entry road, but we were mainly looking for a place we could fit that didn’t look too crowded. Once we found a spot, we ventured out a little into some of the open rolling hills and planted a little camp. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, threw the frisbee, and played fetch with our puppy who was in heaven! We saw a bunch of people who had sleds, and they were sledding down the dunes. We thought it would be super fun to try it ourselves so we grabbed one of our big storage container lids and tried to sled down one of the hills (that was pretty steep) and it was an epic fail. Didn’t even move a foot. However, they do sell sleds at the gift shop at the entrance :) if you have more time, there are plenty of hiking trails and picnic areas to enjoy as well. The trails range from a 1/4 of a mile, to 5 miles, so there is something for everyone.

What to bring: The most important things to remember would be water and sunscreen. The sun is intense there and it can get hot pretty quick. Safety first haha! Bring snacks or a picnic to enjoy while you’re there. Like I said before, we brought our frisbee and Dalton brought his remote control helicopter, and it was fun to play around with those things. There is so much space to play and we really felt like we had the place to ourselves because we barely saw any other people. 

This post became very long winded, so if you’re still reading this, thank you!! Haha! Hope this covers all you need to know about the beautiful White Sands National Monument! Let me know if you venture out to this one of a kind place. Happy exploring!