#20: White Sands National Park
I was really excited to visit this park. This is one of those places you see the photos of and you can’t imagine what it’s like in actuality. I mean, white sand dunes in the south of New Mexico? So strange. But so incredible.
This portion of my trip was my first boondocking experience. This term is used in the RV community and it means to camp out on public land with no water or electric hookups. No reservations are needed because it’s public land, not necessarily “managed” as a campground would be. You basically just park and stay. There are numerous apps and websites such as Campendium, Recreation.gov, and iOverlander (to name a few) that enable travelers to find these free places to camp. Usually, they’re public lands, parks, or government properties - sometimes even business parking lots that allow RV’rs to spend the night.
I found a place to camp outside Las Cruces, NM. White Sands National Park was about an hour’s drive from there. Since I wasn’t too familiar with boondocking and didn’t feel comfortable leaving my Airstream unattended, I towed it along with me to the park. I’d just find another place to boondock that night. NOTE: at this point, I am MUCH more comfortable “winging it” and not necessarily knowing where I’d be spending the night on any given day. In my first few months of traveling, this was NOT the case! See, I’m getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. 😀
Sunset from my boondocking spot near Las Cruces, NM.
The park’s visitor center was at the start of the white gypsum sand dunes. You sort-of drive into the dunes. The cool thing about this park is that there are minimal actual trails. You can just park your car on the park road wherever you want and start exploring anywhere. Addie and I randomly parked in a few different places where it didn’t look like many other people were. I took off my shoes and we were off into the dunes.
A few cool things about the sand here:
It’s super fine.
It’s not little rocks like beach sand; it’s gypsum.
It’s not hot. The day we went was super sunny, but the sand was cool (not like at the beach when the sand can get so hot you have to leave your sandals on).
Although Addie wasn’t supposed to be off-leash, I let her off for a bit. She is so much easier off the leash and with all the open space, I wanted her to be able to run. Of course, she decided to go to the bathroom immediately, so I was walking around with a poop bag the whole time (worth it).
There was an option to sled on the dunes. Park visitors could rent or buy sleds at the visitor center. I did not do this and avoided people who were. I just felt that this landscape is better enjoyed walking and taking it all in, rather than sledding on it.
We stayed for a few hours. We might have stayed longer and relaxed a bit if it weren’t so windy. This park was one of the coolest I’ve been to yet. Not only was it beautiful, but it was so unusual. You never expect to see gorgeous white sand while NOT on a beach. Come to think of it, the sand was very similar to the sand on the Gulf Shore of Florida. Can you tell the difference?
After a fun-filled visit to White Sands National Park, Addie and I departed late afternoon and headed back to Las Cruces to find a place to stay for the night. More to come in my next post about the rest of New Mexico!