White Sands National Park

White Sands National Park is a must see stop on your way through southern New Mexico. Most sand in the world is made of quartz. The sand at White Sands NP is made of 98% pure gypsum which is incredibly rare. It is even more rare to find gypsum in the form of dunes that are blown about by the wind. In 1933 the area was declared a National Monument and then was transferred to a National Park in 2019.

Beacause of it's unique terrain, many movies have been filmed at White Sands National Park. Some that you may recognaize are Star Wars, Transformers, Jar Heads, and Young Guns 2.

While in WSNP, we hiked the Dune Life Nature Trail. Make sure and wear sunglasses, sunscreen and bring plenty of water. Although the hike is only 1 mile, you can still get dehydrated easily in the desert. We also walked the Interdune Boardwalk. We recommend that you drive to the very end and where the sand makes very large dunes and is easiest for sledding.

For our RV friends, there is plenty of room to drive your RV in and turn around. However, we noticed that the fine sand tended to get inside our truck so we were happy to have left our 5th wheel behind at our camping spot.