White Sands National Park

Since I traveled all the way from Albuquerque to see the Trinity site, I had to check out the White Sands National Park since it was so close. And by close I mean about 1 hour 47 minutes drive from Trinity. Along the way you'll pass through Alamogordo, NM and you should definitely pit-stop at PistachioLand to see the world's largest pistachio and try some delicious pistachio wine!

One thing to note, there are times that the White Sands National Park might close due to missile testing since it backs up to the White Sands Missile Range. I'm not sure how frequently that happens though and I didn't have any issues.

The White Sands National Park has the largest gypsum dune field in the world, and honestly, pictures don't really do it justice. I included a picture of myself against some of the dunes to try to show the depth and height of the dunes, and it still didn't really convey accurately. Just trust me, it's worth visiting! There are sections of the road where it is entirely covered with sand, but other than being a little slippery, I didn't have any trouble driving on it in a compact sedan.

There were a lot of people picnicing, hanging out at the top of a dune, and sledding down them. I got the feeling that this was a regular hangout location for locals, which is awesome. I definitely suggest climbing to the top of a dune to see the view from a higher location, and an added perk is that the sand is cold which was a nice surprise in the heat. The park is very large and there were various different environments within the park, which you can see in the pictures below.

I really admired the section that had the walkway (pictured below) which allowed accessibility to an otherwise limited accessibility location.

White Sands is so cool to see but also so far away from any major city. With that said, if you are down for a roadtrip you should 100% check this out. I'm glad I did!

#northamerica #newmexico #nationalpark