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Dirt In My Shoes

Trip Itineraries and Hiking Guides for America's National Parks

Exploring White Sands National Park: Best Tips + Activities

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White Sand Dunes National Park

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Podcast Episode Overview

Picture cloud-white sand surrounding you on every side, with the Sacramento Mountains as your backdrop, and a sunset that turns everything a shade of pink and purple.

THAT’s the awe that is waiting for you at White Sands National Park. Well, that and some other fun activities like hiking through nature trails, and even sledding!

We’ll also take you through all the quirky rules this park has that no other national park does — and what makes White Sands so incredibly unique. 

In this episode, we cover:

  • The two things that make White Sands totally different from every other national park
  • The working missile range, located next to the park
  • A driving tour down Dunes Drive, including the Playa Trail, Dune Life Nature Trail, and Interdune Boardwalk
  • How to sled the dunes (hint: cardboard boxes don’t cut it)
  • Why so many commercials, movies, and music videos have been filmed here
  • The best ranger program in the park and why sunset is non-negotiable
  • Where to stay, eat, and detour in nearby Alamogordo

Your task for today:  Have you been to White Sands for sunset? Head over to the @DirtInMyShoes Facebook or Instagram page, find your favorite sunset photo from the dunes, and tag us so we can see it too!

Planning your own White Sands National Park adventure?

Exploring White Sands National Park: Best Tips + Activities

There is nothing quite like standing in the middle of the largest gypsum dune field in the world, watching cloud-white sand turn every shade of pink and purple as the sun drops behind the mountains. 

That’s White Sands National Park for you…and that view is part of what makes it so unique. 

It’s small, somewhat strange, and unlike anywhere else in the park system. Not to mention, there’s a working missile range hanging out next door! But it’s all part of the charm, and today, we’re taking you on a trip through the park. You’ll learn everything you need to know before exploring White Sands National Park, its rules, and the best activities – some even the whole family can join in on!

Sledding at White Sands National Park

Before You Go: Know the Rules of White Sands National Park

White Sands National Park is in New Mexico, about an hour drive from Las Cruces, and the closest major airport is in El Paso, Texas. But before you plan your trip, there are two park rules that don’t apply anywhere else, and they can genuinely make or break your visit.

  1. This park keeps set hours, and the gate locks. Unlike most national parks, you can’t come and go here whenever you want. Check the park’s current hours before you go, and plan your day around them.
  2. The park sits inside a missile testing range, and it can close without warning. White Sands Missile Range completely surrounds White Sands National Park. The National Park Service publishes upcoming test closures on its Military Testing Park Closures page, but notice can come as little as 24 hours ahead, and closures aren’t always posted in advance. Give yourself a buffer, especially if you’re chasing sunrise.

INSIDER TIP: 
If you type “White Sands” into your GPS without specifying the national park, it may try to send you to the missile range instead! 

Also, just north of the park, inside the missile range, sits the Trinity Site — where the Manhattan Project detonated the first nuclear bomb. It’s not open to casual visitors; the site is only accessible during the annual Trinity Site Open House hosted by White Sands Missile Range, so if that history interests you, plan around that specific date.

Where to Stay During Your Visit to White Sands National Park

White Sands doesn’t have any lodging inside the park, so you’ll be staying in the town just outside it: Alamogordo. 

It’s a small, interesting town with an unusual mix of people. Some are there for the park, but there are also a lot of people there for Holloman Air Force Base. This base trains F-16 and MQ-9 aircrews and has deep ties to the country’s space and missile testing history, including Project Mercury and the F-117 stealth fighter. 

Whether you’re staying in a hotel in town or towing a trailer through, Alamogordo is your best bet for this trip.

The Visitor Center

The visitor center is the first thing you’ll hit when you turn into the park, and it’s worth a stop. It’s built in the Pueblo Revival style by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, so it reflects New Mexico’s architectural heritage and is a beautiful sight to see!

The Visitor Center at White Sands National Park

It’s also the only place in the park to get water and use flush toilets – an important note to take for your trip.

Hiking the Dunes on Dunes Drive

We love hiking, and this park has a handful of short trails worth your time even if a serious hike isn’t the point of your trip.

Playa Trail

This short, flat trail takes you through a playa, one of the hardened, flat areas between the dunes where rainwater pools and then evaporates. It’s also where many of the park’s most important scientific discoveries have been made!

The Playa Trail in White Sands National Park

Dune Life Nature Trail

This one-mile loop is our favorite trail in the park. It’s marked with trail posts you follow through the dunes, with informational plaques about the wildlife that’s adapted to this environment along the way.

Dune Life Nature Trail in White Sands National Park

That includes a bleached earless lizard, a lighter-colored version of the species found elsewhere, specifically adapted to blend into the white sand. It’s short, it’s fun for kids, and because almost nobody hikes here. You’ll likely have the whole trail to yourselves.

Lizard in White Sands National Park

Interdune Boardwalk

This elevated boardwalk trail is the busiest one in the park since it’s right off Dunes Drive. It’s a nice option if you want an easier, slightly raised path through the dunes, but keep in mind that trail conditions and access can change here, so check the park’s current conditions page before you go.

The Interdune Boardwalk in White Sands National Park

Longer Trails

If you want more distance, the Alkali Flat Trail is about five miles round trip and is sometimes closed depending on conditions, since the dunes can shift enough to obscure the route. There’s also a Backcountry Camping Loop Trail, which has also been closed on and off in recent years. 

Neither is guaranteed to be open on the day you visit, so check current conditions ahead of time if either is part of your plan.

White Sands National Park on the Big Screen

You’ve almost certainly seen White Sands before, even if you didn’t know it. 

This otherworldly, ethereal landscape has been a favorite backdrop for commercials, movies, and music videos for decades — the Energizer Bunny, the Marlboro Man, the Budweiser Clydesdales, and Rolls-Royce have all filmed campaigns here.

On the movie side, the list is long, so we’ll spare you all of them, but most notably, both Transformers movies.

Music videos have been filmed here too, from the Scorpions’ “Under the Same Sun” to Pink Floyd’s “Take It Back,” Boyz II Men’s “Water Runs Dry,” and plenty of country hits from Martina McBride and Sara Evans. 

There’s even a dedicated filming area parking lot along Dunes Drive for productions!

Sledding and Sunset in the Dune Field

This is what most people come to White Sands National Park for, and it’s definitely one of the more unique activities in the entire national park system.

How to Sled the Gypsum Sand

Don’t assume sand sledding works like snow sledding. It doesn’t. White Sands’ gypsum sand consistency actually makes it harder to get moving than at Great Sand Dunes National Park, and the dunes here are shorter, so you need a proper setup — a real sled and wax, not a cardboard box. 

We watched a group of college kids try cardboard sledding, and it did not go well; once we lent them a waxed sled, the difference was night and day.

INSIDER TIP: 
Choose a dune with a gradual slope where it meets the flat desert floor. That’s usually the softer landing spot. The compacted, hard-packed base of the dunes near roads and parking areas is where people tend to get hurt.

The Sunset Stroll (And Why You Should See it at Sunset)

The park runs a ranger-led Sunset Stroll program with its own dedicated meeting area and parking lot, about halfway down Dunes Drive. It’s a genuinely well-loved program if you want a guided experience with a ranger talking through the dunes’ ecology as the sun goes down.

We tend to skip the group stroll and instead pick our own dune further down the drive, especially on the west side of the loop, so we’re walking toward the sunset instead of back toward the road.

However you choose to do it, don’t skip sunset here — it’s some of the most striking light you’ll see in any national park, with the sand shifting through pink, purple, and gold as the sun drops.

Sunset in White Sands National Park

Beyond the Park: Things to Do in Alamogordo

Because you’ll likely be out of the dunes during the hottest part of the day, Alamogordo gives you a few good ways to fill the gap in your schedule.

  • Pistachio Land: Home to the world’s largest pistachio and McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch and Arena Blanca Winery. We admittedly hadn’t stopped here ourselves until recently, but it’s exactly the kind of goofy, fun roadside stop worth a photo.
  • New Mexico Museum of Space History: This was a hit with our kids, complete with a spaceship-landing simulator (we did not land ours gracefully) and a planetarium show. Given Alamogordo’s deep ties to Holloman Air Force Base and the missile range, this museum is a natural fit for the area.
  • D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro: It’s become our go-to dinner stop when we’re in the area. We still talk about the meatloaf here…it is that good!

Your Day at White Sands National Park

If we were planning the ideal day exploring White Sands National Park, it would look something like this: arrive early to beat the heat and knock out the short trails, head back into Alamogordo for the Museum of Space History and lunch during the hottest part of the day, then head back to the dunes for golden hour. You can sled while you wait, then admire the sunset before you go. 

You really don’t need more than one to two days here, depending on how much time you want to spend in Alamogordo. But whatever you do, don’t skip sunset. It’s the whole reason to come!

Links Mentioned in This Podcast Episode:

While You’re in the Area:

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