Waves of a different sort welcome RVers who head south and west in search of warm, winter weather. Immense waves of sand with ripples of gypsum crystals will greet you at New Mexico’s White Sands National Park.
White Sands National Park
White Sands National Park is in southern New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin, roughly 15–16 miles southwest of the town of Alamogordo.
The park is completely surrounded by the Air Force base and the White Sands Missile Range. However, access to the park is well-marked and approximately 600,000 visitors go to the park each year. This makes White Sands the most visited national park site in New Mexico.
What to expect
White Sands protects the world’s largest gypsum dune field. The white gypsum sand feels more like snow than desert. Usually, gypsum washes away in water, but the Tularosa Basin’s unique history and climate created conditions that allowed the gypsum crystals to break down into sand and remain on the surface. The combination of color and geology is what makes the park a must-see.
Top things to do
Drive Dunes Drive for quick access to trailheads and picnic/sled spots. The one-way scenic road takes you into the heart of the dune field and is the easiest way to see much of the park features without long hikes.
Take the short Interdune Boardwalk or Dune Life Nature Trail for natural-history interpretive signs. Or tackle the Alkali Flat Trail if you want a longer, more immersive hike into the big dunes.
Sledding is a family-favorite activity here. Waxed plastic saucers work best, and the visitor center gift shop rents and sells sleds and wax.
Ranger programs, sunset strolls, and photography sessions are extra-rewarding here because of the light and texture on the dunes. It’s breathtakingly beautiful!
A few practical notes
The park allows off-trail exploration, but it’s easy to get disoriented once you’re away from Dunes Drive and marked trails. Use caution!
The park’s page warns GPS users that searching generically for “White Sands” can route you to White Sands Missile Range (not where you want to be). Use the park address or coordinates.
Three nearby RV parks
• Alamogordo/White Sands KOA Journey. This convenient, full-service base is located in Alamogordo with easy access to restaurants, supplies, and about a 20–25 minute drive to the park entrance. You’ll find full hookups (30/50 amp available), pull-through sites, laundry, clean restrooms, a camp store, Wi-Fi, seasonal pool, and activity space.
• Boot Hill RV Resort. Boot Hill is a full-service RV park with sites that accommodate large rigs, convenient highway access, and quiet desert views. RVers enjoy full hookups with 30/50-amp service, pull-through and back-in options, covered and uncovered sites, showers and laundry, and weekly/monthly rates. It’s a short drive from the park entrance and a good choice for longer stays.
• Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. This campground sits on the western edge of the Sacramento Mountains and is the closest scenic state campground. Oliver Lee is roughly a 25–30 minute drive to White Sands, making it an excellent base. You’ll discover more than a dozen developed campsites and many of them accommodate RVs up to large rigs. There’s a mix of water-and-electric hookups (mostly 30 amp, with at least one 50 amp accessible). You’ll also find restrooms and showers, a dump station, picnic tables, and interpretive trails.
A short sample day
Arrive early to beat the heat (if you visit in the summer months).
• Drive Dunes Drive and stop at the visitor center for maps and information.
• Hike a short trail or the Alkali Flat if you want a mid-day sled session or picnic.
• Then cool off in town or at your campground, and head back later for sunset photos of the dunes.
If you prefer stargazing, New Mexico’s dark skies around White Sands make for spectacular nighttime skies.
Have you visited White Sands National Park? Tell us about it using the comments below.
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RVT1237
Cloudcroft and Ruidoso are nearby and wonderful places to visit. Ruidoso has had some bad times with wildfire and subsequent flooding but is still worth a visit. Elk often stroll around town. The mountain drive and views are spectacular.
Not far north on 54 is Tularosa. Tularosa Vineyards is a Harvest Host with room for big rigs.
Between Alamogorda and Tularosa is a can’t miss–McGinn’s PistachioLand with it’s giant pistachio. Who doesn’t love a selfie with a giant nut?
The KOA in Alamogorda had free sleds in the office for use on the dunes. White Sands is dog friendly.
Finally, 70, the road to the park, is occasionally closed for short periods when they test missiles.
White Sands is fun and interesting. We stayed for three days at 575 RV park in town, very reasonable with FHU.
Be sure and visit the White Sands Missile Museum. Petrographs are in another park just a short drive away.
Another fascinating aerospace museum is located on the White Sands Army Post east of Las Cruces, NM. Take E-70 from Las Cruises approximate 5 miles miles, turn south onto Hwy 213. Continue south for approximately 5 miles to the Army Post entrance gate. Visitor passes are available for non-veterans. Outside and inside museum is extremely fascinating and informative about all of the missile and rocket testing since the end of WWII, i.e., the V-1 & V-2 (Hitler’s ‘buzz bomb’ used during WWII) were shipped to this location for testing and development of our future ‘apollo program,’ along with a number of German ‘rocket scientists!’
Shout out to Mountain Meadows RV Park in Tularosa, NM! We stayed here, a park with a wide circular area with sites around the outside, making backing in a breeze! And the women’s bathroom was amazing. The owner had stocked it with real towels, toiletries, a hairdryer, a laundry hamper (for those towels). It was one big room with the shower, so not great for many people at once. But marvelous for a single individual! I’ve never seen a bathroom stocked that well! Plus, she takes Passport America. We were there in April and the National Park was VERY WINDY. Do not miss the White Sands visitor’s center where you can see casts of the ancient footprints found at the active dig on the park lands.
Those footprints are perhaps 23,000 years old. Found in 2009, they have changed our understanding of when humans came to North America. The dig itself is off limits to the public.
On a bright sunny day, the glare from the sun on the white sand can cause discomfort if you have sensitive eyes and make driving very difficult. Keep a good pair of sunglasses on hand or better yet the wrap around eye shields that you get at the eye doctor.
For military, Holloman AFB has a large FCFS campground with overflow space. They told me they’ve never turned anyone away due to lack of sites. They are located on the other side of the wall that separates the base from US70, so noise could be a problem. Also White Sands Missile Range has a small campground with full hookups and 4 overflow sites with electric only. You can reserve but only 30 days out (I think). It’s a nice place, only 20 minutes to the park and just on the east side of the mountain from Los Cruces NM. This base has the usual AAFES amenities one would expect.
Alamogordo has a space museum that was well worth the visit. They had a lot of early space history artifacts.
North of Alamogordo is the spectacular Thrree Rivers Petroglyph Site, with hundreds of glyphs on big lava boulders. The site has several designated camping sites, including a couple with electric hookups.
North of there is the Valley of Fires National Rec. Area, near the tiny town of Carrizozo in the NE corner of the Tularosa Basin.. It is located on a miles-long aa lava flow and also has a campround with hookups.
Tularosa is the gathering area to visit the Trinity site which is where the first plutonium bomb was tested before dropping it on Nagasaki. Trinity is open to the public twice a year in April and October. You can drive there yourself or take a guided bus tour through the New Mexico Museum of Space as we did. Either way every vehicle meets at the high school and leaves at the same time. Another interesting site is Sun Spot, New Mexico, which houses one of the few solar telescopes in the world where we had a nice guided tour. Just north is Lincoln NM home of Billy the kid and not too far is the burial ground of Smokey the Bear.