White Sands (BLM)

Emily Santos

White Sands National Park is a super cool & different place to see. It is an easy 45 minute drive from Las Cruces. We visited on a Monday midmorning. It was not busy. They do have limited trailer/bus parking. There is a park store with National Park souvenirs and a small exhibit as well as a gift shop where you can rent sleds. The Dunes Drive I believe is approximately 8 miles to the loop at the end. Along the drive there are a few parking areas that have picnic tables and restrooms. Many of the areas toward the end of the loop allow you to walk and sled on the sand. There are a couple trails to hike as well as remote camping when allowed. Make sure to bring water before entering the park as they don’t have services in the park. We spent about an hour exploring the park(we did not hike the trails). White Sands is massive but the park felt smaller than expected. If you’re in the area or can make a quick detour it’s worth seeing in person!

charles gomez

So happy we came in November. Cant believe people come here in the summer lol. We walked the cold fresh sand barefoot and it was lovely. Mike the park ranger was super nice and informative.

Britt M.

This is a must visit national park! The views were absolutely beautiful and the sand was ice cold! I would definitely recommend bringing sun screen and renting the sand sleds at the park with the wax. We brought our own plastic snow sleds and waxed them but they didn’t work as well as the ones they offered for rent. Since the government shut down is still going on the park admission was free. I will note that there is construction going on in the park right now so it did take about 15 mins to get to the back of the park to see the dunes. Overall it was an amazing experience with life changing views.

Lisa Woods

It’s worth stopping here for two or three hours if you happen to be in the neighborhood, but it’s a mystery to me why this place was upgraded from national monument to national park, because it definitely does not deserve that distinction. There are a couple of interesting short walks, though the main boardwalk path has been closed for six months because an Air Force plane crashed near there.

Pu Sun

One of the best sunsets I’ve seen. The sun makes the clouds colorful and the color changes millions times in an hour. Unlike other huge national parks, it does not need a week to explore everything, you can either enjoy the thrill of sand dune sliding or watch the sunset quietly.