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White Sands National Park is a relatively small park and the beauty of it is serene and breathtaking. The park is surrounded by glistening white sands which looks like snow more than sand to many.

It is known to be one of the world’s great natural wonders in New Mexico and we had to make a visit when we were on our Thanksgiving cross-country road trip. The great thing about White Sands is that it’s pet-friendly, so Kuma was able to enjoy the park with us.

We visited the park in late November and the weather was fantastic. The morning temperature was in the fifties and by the afternoon, it was in the mid-sixties. At sunset, the temperatures dropped again to the fifties.

We stayed at a dog-friendly hotel near the park, called The Classic Desert Aire Hotel. This hotel is in a town called Alamogordo and it’s about a 15-20 minute drive to the park.

The park is open from 7 AM to an hour after sunset. At the time we went at the end of November, they closed the park at 6 PM. Entrance fee is $25 or free if you have the America the Beautiful - Annual Park Pass.

Here is how we spent the day at White Sands National Park.

9:00 AM - Rent (or Buy) a Sled at the Visitor’s Center

One of the main attractions of this park is sand sledding and there are a couple of options when it comes to sleds. You are welcome to bring your own sled; however, if you do not have one, you can either buy a used or new sled at the park’s visitor center.

We initially had plans to start our day as soon as the park opened at 7 AM, but took our time eating breakfast so we ended up at the visitor’s center right when they opened at 9 AM.

This ended up working out for us since we needed to buy a sled before we headed into the park. Had we shown up early, we would have had to come back when they opened to get the sled.

It was $15.00 for a used sled or $20.00 to purchase new one. We chose to get the used sled and also purchased some wax for $1.99. The wax was highly recommended by the staff, so we took their advice and bought one.

If you bring back the sled to the store with your receipt, the store will give you a koozie in return as a thank you gift.

9:30 AM - Drive Around Dunes Drive

Since the park is relatively small, you can easily do a loop around the park in less than an hour. We took this time to scope out the areas where we wanted to sled and go for a hike later. The scenery is beautiful and we couldn’t get over how white everything was.

Along the drive, you’ll come across several trails like the Dune Life Nature Trail which is a short one-mile loop hike, or the Playa Trail which is an easy half-mile hike with outdoor exhibits. There’s also the White Sands Backcountry Trail (1.8 miles), Interdune Boardwalk (0.4 miles), and the most popular trail, Alkali Flat Trail.

11:00 AM - Go Sledding At Yucca Picnic Area

We decided to go sledding at Yucca Picnic Area which is right next to the Alkali Flat Trail parking lot. There are plenty of options for your sledding adventures, but we settled on this area for a few reasons.

One, there was a bathroom facility. Two, there was a large parking lot. Three, the sand dunes here were huge!

There were only a few cars in the lot at the time we arrived, so it felt like we had the place all to ourselves. We grabbed our sled and started running up the sandy dunes.

We were so pumped that we didn’t think to take our time because hiking up that sandy hill was brutal. By the time we got to the top, we were both seriously out of breath.

Kuma was also struggling a little, but she was having a fantastic time since she loves running in the sand (just not uphill so much).

1:30 PM - Lunch Break in Alamogordo

Since we didn’t pack a lunch and there is not a cafe in the park, we drove back into Alamogordo. There are a ton of fast food options as well as restaurants including KFC, McDonalds, Chili’s, and more. We both grabbed some fast food and went back to our hotel to eat our lunch.

3:30 PM - Sunset Photos at Alkali Flat Trail

After a little rest, we headed back into the park. The park offers a free ranger-guided sunset stroll located at the Sunset Stroll Meeting Area if you are interested in learning more about the unique geology of the park.

We wanted to take photos, so we headed further down the park to Alkali Flat Trail. This parking lot is huge and also has bathroom facilities. During the day, we saw a good amount of cars parked here, but at sunset, most of the cars were gone.

The majority of the visitors seemed to be in other areas of the park sand sledding or exploring other trails.

Sunsets are known to be stunning at White Sands National Park, but on the day we went, it was a cloudy day, so we did not see the usual sunset view of the park.

But we still managed to capture awesome photos and were able to see some of those amazing pink and purple colors in the sky.

We hiked maybe a mile on the Alkali Flat Trail, but you can go even further and do the entire 5-mile looped hike. Just remember to give yourself enough time to hike the trail before the park closes.

We saw some hikers wearing headlamps in the distance when we were heading back to our car after the sunset, which is a really good idea.

Final Thoughts

We had a fantastic time and we were so grateful for the amazing weather and beautiful sunset. It was definitely worth a stop on our cross-country road trip.

One interesting fact that we learned is that the sand here is not “regular” sand. White Sands is almost pure gypsum, unlike regular sand that is silica. Basically, pure gypsum dissolves in water like sugar and salt, unlike silica sand.

Some Tips

• Bring water

• Pack a lunch if you don’t want to drive into town

• Wear proper footwear for sand

• Bring sunglasses as the white sand glare on a sunny day can be brutal

WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK
Alamogordo, New Mexico (MAP)
Hours: Park hours change throughout the year. Gates always open at 7:00 am with closing hours changing with the seasons.