White Sands National Park – New Mexico 7/3/23

Monday, July 3, 2023

White Sands National Park – New Mexico

Ian, Court, Biff, and Finn

About a mile

This may be the only national park we get to this year, despite my attempt on the PCT.

It also may be the only time we ever go here. I’m glad we did. The park is a unique experience and a beautiful place.

We got out to the park early, before the visitor center even opened, in order to beat the heat. Because of this, the sand was actually quite cool. This is also one of the only national parks where dogs are allowed on all trails. I suspect this is due to the lack of wildlife here.

The pups loved the sand (especially Finn) and we had a nice walk on the Dune Life Nature Trail, which is in the “interdune” area. This means it is mostly sand, but also has some vegetation, so it is home to more wildlife than the straight sand dunes further out.

The trail was found using markers set about 50 yards apart, among the dunes. It was very unique and beautiful.

We got back to the car and drove the rest of the road out to the main dunes and saw a bunch of people had arrived while we were out hiking. It was interesting seeing so many people sledding, playing, and even tanning (!) out on the white sand. My dermatologist wife did not approve. 😝

We drove back up the mountains to Cloudcroft once the sun started getting to be too much and were glad to be back at elevation. We are definitely mountain people, not desert or beach people.