White Sands National Park

This is America’s newest National Park.  It was officially designated “Park” status on 20 Dec 2019 – which also just happens to be my birthday! We nearly missed knowing about the new designation. In January I just happened to read an old Instagram Post from the National Park Service announcing the change.  Fortunately for us, the park happened to be practically in line with our planned route back east.  A quick routing update, a slight timeline alteration and we were still able to stay on our goal of seeing all National Parks in the contiguous 48 states!

I have an affinity for this park as I spent several months nearby at Holloman AFB back in the mid-90’s while going through a program called LIFT (Lead-In Fighter Training).  The program was designed as the transition from basic flight school into the more advanced fighter training.  Back then, White Sands was still a small National Monument and a HUGE bomb and missile test range.  This is the place where the first ever atomic bomb – “The Gadget” – was successfully tested in 1945.  As you can imagine, there is not too much around here.  Between the great emptiness and the more than 330 days of annual sunshine, the flying here is pretty amazing.  We could pretty much go anywhere, drop bombs everywhere and our low-level training was really down in and among the crystal white sand dunes.  So yes, I like this place. 

White Sands is really unlike any other place on earth.  It is the largest gypsum sand field in the world and walking around some parts of it is quite literally like being inside a massive salt shaker.  The sand is nearly as white as snow and so fine grained that it can creep into everything.  As is evidenced by the fact that after rolling around in the sand for a few hours, Hazel managed to deposit about a pound of it inside the RV when she took off her shoes.  We will be carrying White Sands “memories” with us for quite some time.  I guess the good part about the fineness of the sand is that it does pack down when folks walk on it.  Thanks to this, Ava, who is now becoming quite the expert on her crutches, was at least able to get partially out into the dune fields and enjoy the scenery.

The dunes formed in part because the area is completely surrounded by mountains.  So any water runs into the natural basin, evaporates and leaves behind the gypsum that dissolved as the water made its way down.  I’m sure there is more to it than that and the science is probably enough to keep a geologist busy for decades.  I’m no geologist, but what I can tell you is that the vast expanse of sky with a back drop of towering mountains all around while standing on top of a sea of white sand makes for truly amazing sunsets.  Even on a day like we had, which was fairly overcast, the sky turned so many shades of red and purple it was liking watching a rapidly changing light show. 

My only disappointment with our stop here is our inability to wonder around the park after nightfall.  The rules have changed and we had to exit by 7:00pm, well before it got truly dark.  When I was here before, we could explore at night.  I can recall being out with friends on a full moon night, standing on the sand and being amazed at how the entire area almost glowed with the reflections of light bouncing from dune to dune.  It was so bright that we did not even need flashlights to move around.  It was a completely unique and mesmerizing experience.  One that I would have loved to share with my family.  But, as Carolyn said, you are still allowed to get a back country pass and camp on the dunes.  So perhaps we will all make a trek back here some day and sit under the night sky in the glowing salt shaker of White Sands National Park.