Vanlife | Welcome to White Sands National Park in New Mexico

There were a couple of parks and places Amy was able to add on to our Out West itinerary. Others were places that we just so happen to stumble upon and said to each other, “We are here. This place is cool, let’s do it!” This is a fine example of how planning ahead of time can supply you with a little bit of “extra time” in case its needed.

The first national park was located not very far from Carlsbad Cavern National Park / Carlsbad, New Mexico. The park is called White Sands National Park. You may have heard of it? It is actually a more popular place to visit than Carlsbad Cavern National Park or so they state. We found this hard to believe but I guess the stats and numbers don’t lie. Carlsbad Cavern National Park was so special to us, so amazing and fun! The mountains and the cave exploration was just out of this world!

Amy told me as we were leaving Carlsbad that White Sands NP is often closed at times for missile testing! I was like, “Woah, wait a minute! Is it even safe there?”

The government throws up a bright red sign reading, “ROAD CLOSED, MISSLE TESTING IN PROGRESS. INQUIRE AT THE VISITOR’S CENTER.”

Dunes Road is the only road leading into the park so if they are “testing” the park closes down for periods of three hours or even more at a time. I preferred the government not be shooting off missiles while we were visiting, lol. We had no such closures during our visit. I do wonder if the park has to quickly go grab up everyone in the park or those with permits out camping in the backcountry portion. I found out later the park is notified twenty-four hours in advance and that everyone has to leave during these tests. Interesting.

We were excited. We decided to skip going to Roswell and head straight to White Sands NP so we could spend more time there at this park. We headed into the town of Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Alamogordo us situated in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains and Lincoln National Forest. Close by is White Sands NP, a zoo, a toy depot and the NM Museum of Space History. The town is also famous because of the world’s largest pistachio being located there just outside of town at a local business. A FUN place all around.

When we arrived to town we got this feeling like it was a NUKE TOWN, like one you’d see in the movies. You know the movies where they have the REAL houses and FAKE people / mannequins? The town actually has REAL people (or could they be robots, or aliens in disguise).

Amy booked us a site at the Alamogordo KOA which is located right in town. We drove in and went inside to check in. The staff was so NICE to us. They helped provide us with information about the town and the NP. They told us that if we planned on visiting White Sands NP that we could use a pair of their dune sleds. Just come by and let us know and we’ll be glad to let you use them as long as you bring them back to us! Done deal. Free, awesome.

We parked at our site for a few and relaxed. We used their bath house / showers to clean up. We dressed and then headed to White Sands NP!

We drove for about fifty-four miles. We reached the visitor’s center, parked, and went inside to get a patch and park stamp for Amy’s book.

We tried to perform a “high five” video in front of the park sign. We tried a couple of times. I could tell Amy was still a bit tired from the previous portion of our journey. Tiredness caught up to us a couple of times during the trip. Amy was still a good sport about my silly shenanigans and tried her best to help me with the video! After a few tries we gave up and I gave her a big kiss.

Eight more miles past the guard shack we were in the park on our way into the white dune land. Dune sledding had been the most enticing thing about the park prior to our arrival. We were bound and determined to knock this bucket list item out first!

White Sands does require a park pass. We used our America the Beautiful Park Pass. If you don’t have one they will charge you a fee of $25.00 for entry.

White Sands NP is located in the Tularosa Basin. Holloman Air Force Base is nearby. The “Trinity” site is located about 65 miles north of White Sands NP. It is where the first atomic bomb was tested in 1945. Fun Fact for you!

Although the dunes of White Sands NP have been present for the last seven to ten thousand years the dunes were not always protected as a national monument. White Sands wasn’t actually converted into a monument and park until President Donald J. Trump signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act on December 20, 2019. In 2020 White Sands became the 62nd National Park.

The park contains the world’s largest gypsum dune field, some mounds found nowhere else in the world, the park is also home to the world’s largest collection of ice-aged fossilized footprints and tells more than 20,000 years of human presence.

The American badger, Apache pocket mouse, the black-tailed Jackrabbit, the bobcat, the coyote, the fox, the bat, and more are some of the mammals that live and survive in the dunes.

The Chihuahuan Desert is the coldest and wettest desert in North America. it is 1/3 larger than the state of New Mexico. White Sands NP protects 40% of this desert with its 275 square-mile gypsum dunes.

Does White Sands have any bodies of water? Yes, Lake Lucero is located in-between the dunes in the park. It was part of a 1,600 square-mile lake known as Lake Otero.

During the ice-age times rain and snow melt carried gypsum into the basin from the San Andres Mountains to the West. It settled and formed Lake Otero. By the way if your curious at all like I am, gypsum is made of minerals like table salt and Epson salt. Crystals formed in the mud and deposits created these huge dunes. Immediately after a rainstorm, the dunes appear tan in color before they begin to dry out.

I found this park to be very beautiful and its history of formation very interesting. Hopefully, I didn’t bore you all too much. LOL. Let’s go sledding shall we?

8 miles after the stop at the park’s visitor center, our van, the Aloha, hit the sandy dirt. Bumpy as all get out and her insides rattle and shook fiercely the entire drive. In fact, I had to slow down to under 5mph at times to ease her shake. There were some smooth patches but the road continued to be a little harsh under our tires.

We found a pull off and parked. We had a blue and a red circular plastic sled with a a rectangular shaped chunk of wax. The dunes were huge, and they were calling our names! I climbed up and ran back down splashing sand into the air leaving footprints behind me. Like a kid would do. LOL.

Armed with sleds, my Go Pro Max (attached to a 10-foot pole), we marched through the sand over one dune, up across another, and then up yet another dune to the top. We had no clue what we were doing. I waxed the bottoms of the sleds. We found a couple worn sled paths in the center of the dune. We figured this might be easier to slide down since the tracks had already been started.

Amy said, “You go first!”

So I plopped myself down on my board, pulled my knees, legs, and feet inward until my entire body was on top of this little circle.

“Go.” she said.

“How?” I asked.

We both laughed. I tried my best to scooch forward but nothing happened! I ended up having to use my feet to shuffle to the top of the pre-made trail. Down I went. First time was a blur, I shot down the dune and hit the bottom with a thump. I flopped over on the ground off my board and eventually on to my back. From the very top of the dune I heard Amy’s cries of laughter! She laughed so hard it echoed across the dunes and sands. Others nearby, preparing to slide down their own dunes stopped in their tracks to look over at the 40-something year old man lying on his back as the base of the dune. In the distance, a coyote stopped and began to grin.

Amy went next. She flew down and slid out a lot farther at the bottom than I did. She somehow stayed on her board.

It was so tiring walking back up the dune each time to slide but also SO MUCH FUN! We repeated the process several more times until our bodies cried out, “Enough! NO MORE!”

Back to the van. Moving on…

We drove and drove taking in the views. We were in our own little hourglass full of sand. A magical world of our own. We would drive, then stop, get out, climb some dunes, walk back to the van, get in, and go to the next stop. Again, the sense of being all alone on an undiscovered planet far away from Earth overcame us. The sun shined casting our shadows alongside us. Our shadows came to life and followed us everywhere.

Such an amazing time. Due to time constraints we didn’t get to stay for sunset along the boardwalk. We were told it is a magnificent sight to see. We did stop at the boardwalk on the way out though. Luckily, we had it all to ourselves. We took ourselves a little hike on this well-constructed boardwalk that seemed to float over the sand. We took our time and learned about the creatures that roamed these dunes. They had several covered resting areas along the hike with benches and shade. They had information you could read with pictures at each stop. We took some really cool photographs and headed back to the van. We wanted to get a good start to our next location before the sun went down. And…we needed to get the sand out of our underwear!

The Aloha carried us out of the park and we reluctantly said our goodbyes to White Sands National Park. Good times.

The Valley of Fire

From White Sands NP we drove another 14 miles or so and ended up making a cool discovery. We were suddenly surrounded by rolling hills with this vast valley of green desert shrubs and black rocks. This valley continued out into the horizon as far as our eyes could see, and then some.

These black lava rocks were formed by nearby volcanos millions of years ago. When the volcanos erupted or rather exploded lava flowed through this valley up to 165 feet in some areas leaving behind this 45 mile stretch called, “The Valley of Fire.” Man oh man, what a sight to see! Incredible!

The Valley of Fire is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management. We visited the campground located in this lava rock infested valley. Nice! 19 campsites, full hook-ups, your own pull-off-space with a full bathhouse. It also has a 3/4 mile nature trail. The campground is only $3 a night per vehicle (with one person). Dirt cheap for such a wonderful camping spot / experience! Amy said had she of known about this place we would’ve camped here instead of in Alamogordo (she did state that the KOA in Alamogordo is awesome too! One of her favorites)!

We took the short hike and climbed up for the grandest view ever (Grand Canyon was grander, but this we pretty darn amazing!)

We wanted to stay longer but needed to get back on the road. Amy had added yet another National Park to our list, The Petrified Forest National Park. We were excited! WE couldn’t believe all the beautiful places we were getting to see!

Next stop, Petrified Forest National Park.

If you would like to watch our video of our visit and our adventures at White Sands National Park in New Mexico click the link below. Watch the video on our Tates Travel YouTube Channel NOW! Go! Go watch it and remember to give us a LIKE (Thumbs UP) and if you haven’t already you can go ahead while you are on a ROLL and hit that SUBSCRIBE button as well! Thanks for visiting and joining our VANLIFE / TRAVEL ADVENTURE COMMUNITY!