The Snow White Desert of New Mexico

Sometimes you don’t have to travel far from home to find an exotic destination. Here in New México, there is one place that is so unique that it has been featured in many movies as another planet, filled in for other deserts, and just appeared as itself. That place is White Sands National Monument, which is like no other place on Earth.

Located in the Tularosa Basin of southern New México, White Sands is famous for its pure white sand dunes. I was there with a friend over the Memorial Day weekend. That’s me walking on one of the very large dunes. I hadn’t been here in over 20 years and it was just as fun the second time around. Even with lots of people that day, you can find plenty of space to be alone if you wanted.

Feeling the squishy sand between your toes at White Sands brings the kid out in everybody. Adults and children alike like to play in the dunes. It’s like being at the beach, but without any ocean.

In places, it looks like it snowed with drifts flowing onto the roads. It is actually grains of gypsum forming the largest gypsum dune fields on the planet covering 275 square miles in the Chihuahuan Desert.

While the dunes might seem barren to us humans, there are over 800 animal species found here! Plants grow and thrive here, adapting to the conditions of constantly shifting dunes by growing taller as the dunes fill in around them. Sometimes, the sand then moves away leaving the plants to survive on a pedestal of sand. Nature can be amazing in the way life manages to survive in harsh conditions.

If you go to White Sands, and I strongly urge you to do so, be well prepared. In the last four years, four people have died in the desert conditions. Be sure to wear a hat and sunglasses, put on sunscreen, and bring plenty of water. If traveling alone, be sure to let someone know you will be going there.

The dune field is so large that it can be seen from space, but you can go and it up close and personal. For more information, go to the National Park Service website for White Sands National Monument at https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm.