A Day to Play at White Sands National Park
White Sands National Park is an otherworldly landscape of rolling white dunes and dazzling blue sky. The drive to White Sands National Park from Las Cruces, New Mexico is about 50 miles and scenic with the Organ Mountains framing the desert. The rock formations resemble giant organ pipes, striking as they rise straight out of the horizon. Along the highway are a NASA testing site, White Sands Missile Range (surrounding the park), and the Trinity Site, the location of the first nuclear missile test. This all makes for a mysterious landscape, and the park even advises that U.S. 70 closes for public safety during Department of Defense missile tests, on average one to two times per week for a couple of hours. We were lucky – no closures this day.
White Sands National Park is such fun and a playground for all ages. Get a sled at the Visitor’s Center and head for the dunes. We decided to purchase a sled for $25, which can be returned for a park koozie. (We kept the sled for subsequent days playing in the snow in the nearby Sacramento Mountains). The ranger advised the best dunes for sledding were toward the back of the park. The dunes were vast, undulating, and white as snow. The topography, bright white in the sun, plays tricks on perception in gauging depth and distance. It is pure joy to climb, clamber and crawl up a dune and then to fly back down it on the sled.
The dunes are fluffy like sand but a bit firmer, and are actually not sand but the mineral gypsum. Formed by the Permian Sea, the dunes shifted upwards over time and then were redeposited by glaciers. Water held beneath the dunes’ surface keeps them intact, and as a result, the dune field does not move or get swept away.
There are designated trails and interpretive walks in the park, and we enjoyed the break from sledding to learn and amble along the Alkali Flats and La Playa Trails. A bonus at White Sands National Park is that visitors are free to wander almost anywhere. Leashed pets are allowed, too - a contrast to many other national parks. In the major dune zones where vegetation is sparse or nonexistent, walking, sledding, and playing on the dunes feels less destructive than it would in other protected areas.
A day visit to White Sands National Park was a joy. The sun is high, making the winter day mild. Hiking, playing, sledding; even dancing along the dunes are sights we saw among all ages. It is that kind of place – freeing – where you can experience the strange landscape through play and exhilaration, young and old alike.
