The surroundings areas of White Sands aren’t much to look at from a car (or bus) window. It’s pretty flat and brownish; an unassuming desert. Yet as you drive towards this National Park white starts covering the ground, and if it’s winter time or night, you might start to wonder if it’s snow. But no, it’s gypsum. Lots and lots of it left behind millions of years ago when the Permian Sea disappeared.
Why Are There Dunes
Over time, the gypsum was pushed up high as the ground rose up as mountains beneath it. Getting to return when long ago glaciers melted and todays rain and snow melt bring the dissolved mineral back to the shallow lakes in the Tularosa Basin. There wind and sun separate the gypsum from water and leave behind delicate selenite crystals. Constant and often strong southwest winds break the crystals up into a fine powdery sand. The winds, like at all dunes, are constantly pushing the sand up into piles that are always changing.
Tell Me More
The visitor center and online has some stunning pictures of White Sands. It’s a photographers dream to capture the beauty as the desert colors come alive on and across the white sand dunes. They turn all sorts of oranges, pinks, blues and silvers. Knowing this had me reminiscent of all we got to experience while camping at Bruneau Dunes State Park in Idaho.
But for us, the main attraction was sliding down them (as was also a focus at Bruneau Dunes)! We opted to save a few bucks and not buy sleds from the visitor center. Instead using hard plastic restaurant style trays we had on hand. This kind of fun thoroughly filled our day as we’re frequently slow to get places and winter means less daylight hours in our day.
It would have been magical to camp at a place like this. Jason and I both agreed it’s the perfect place for families and friends to hang out. Unfortunately this park does not offer camping except for backcountry camping during certain times of the year. So as the light began to fade and we were too cold to care about capturing the sunset, it was time to go.
Cool Facts:
White Sands became the nations 62nd national park. Currently the U.S. has 63 parks in total.
There is the White Sands Missile Range and museum very close by. Unfortunately it was not open while we where here.
Gypsum sand is considered rare and it’s even rarer to find gypsum sand in the form of dunes.
If White Sands sounds like an interesting place to visit, then this website could be helpful.