W for White Sands National Park #BlogchatterA2Z

 White Sands National Park, New Mexico 

White Sands National Park, located in a desert in New Mexico, is home to the World's largest Gypsum sand dune. The park is accessible via an 8-mile drive. 

White sand, which is soft and like fine powder, looks very bright on hot days with sun rays reflecting on it. A great place for sand sledding. 

Put on sunscreen, Googles, and sled through the sand! Both kids and adults can enjoy sledding. Since the sand is very soft, there won't be any injuries, and you can enjoy sledding safely.

A lot of fun for sure!

Here is our travelogue.

Until next time,

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z

Other A2Z Posts:

A for Arches National Park

B for Bigbend National park

C for Capitol Reef National Park

D for Disney

E for Escalante National Monument

F for Fort Davis

G for Great Smoky Mountains National Park

H for Hot Springs National Park

I for Idaho Springs

J for Jackson Hole

K for Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

L for Las Vegas

M for Monument Valley

N for Niagara Falls

O for Orlando

P for Pikes Peak

Q for Quiet and Secluded

R for Rocky Mountain National Park

S for Santa Fe

T for Talimena Scenic Drive

U for Utah

V for Vermont

W for White Sands National Park

X for Xtreme Weather

Y for Yellowstone National Park

Z for Zion National Park

White Sands National park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park - A Travelogue #FridayReflections

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Hello again! This is the continuation of our trip to Big Bend National Park.

You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here. 

Here is the map of the places we visited:

We started from Big Bend National Park around noon and drove through Marfa to Elpaso. 

Marfa:

Marfa is a small desert town and is also an art hub. 

Outside the town is a viewing platform to see the mysterious lights in the sky - sometimes red, white, and blue that appear randomly at night. The source of these lights is still a mystery. Marfa is famous for this unexplainable phenomenon. We couldn't see these lights as we traveled in the noon and couldn't stay in Marfa.

On the way to Elpaso, we can watch the Prada store on US-90 which lies in an isolated place and is a fun stop. It is a permanent art installation around 26 miles northwest of Marfa.

Prada Store

Locks for Good luck?

Elpaso :

Elpaso is the sixth largest city in Texas. 

Casa De Azucar (Sugar House) is a fun place to stop by. We missed it as I didn't note down the place name while planning the trip. Don't miss it if you are driving through ElPaso. 

We planned to drive to the scenic overlook in Elpaso, but couldn't due to lack of time. I read from many blogs that this drive is worth the time.

We reached Las Cruces by evening that day and stayed there for the night. 

New mexico

White Sands National Park:

The next day morning, we drove to White Sands National Park which is around 53 mins from Las Cruces.

This is our second visit to White Sands. Here is the old travelogue. 

White Sands National park

Sledding fun

White Sands is the world's largest Gypsum dune field. The sand is very soft and white. We had many hours of fun sledding through the sand.

It's good that there are restrooms and picnic areas at many places in the park. The visitor center is great too with exhibits and info on how the dunes are formed. There are restrooms and a gift shop inside the visitor center. 

Entry to the park is $25 per vehicle. The Dune drive is 8 miles loop with many places to stop at and sled. 

We did an easy hike of 0.4 miles which is called 'The Interdune boardwalk'. It's a good introductory hike in the park.

I heard Alkali Flat Trail is the best hike in the park. It's a strenuous 5-mile round-trip hike. We couldn't do it with kids. Someday we might do this trail. 

We started our drive to Carlsbad which is 3.5 hrs. We reached by the night and we stayed at Whites city cavern inn in Carlsbad.

The location is great as it's just 6.8 miles from the caves.

Accommodation near Las Cruces:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park:

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico is unlike any other caves. These caves were formed 20 - 30 million years ago in the Guadalupe mountains. Around 110 caves were formed with stunning formations due to the mineral-laden water seeping through the fractures of ancient limestone sedimentation.

Carlsbad Caverns National park

Carlsbad Caverns National park

Here is my old travelogue to Carlsbad Caverns. Last time, we booked King's Palace tour and I highly recommend it. The guided tour is 1.5 hrs and it's very interesting and informative.

This time, we just did a self-guided tour through the Big Room trail which is 1.25 miles. We spent some time in the visitor center watching the exhibits and learning more about how caves are formed. We took an elevator to the caves.

Carlsbad Caves

Cave Formations

Last time, we entered the cave through Natural Entrance Trail. This was the toughest trail then but completely worth it. This trail is 1.25 miles taking us down to 750 ft.

We had great lunch in the national park cafe. I highly recommend eating there. My kids completed their junior ranger program and got their badges.

By the time, we came out of the caves, it was around 4 Pm. We drove to Guadalupe Peak in the Guadalupe Mountains national park. 

Accommodations near Carlsbad:

Guadalupe Mountains National Park:

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is only 34 mins from Carlsbad, so don't miss it if you can. 

We didn't have much time and were tired after the caves, but wanted to see Guadalupe Peak and cover El Capitan Overlook.

Guadalupe Peak

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

We just covered those two and returned to our motel in Whites City. 

3.8 mile Devil's Hall trail is very popular in Guadalupe mountains national park. It takes 3 to 4 hrs to finish the trail and it starts from pine springs campground. This trail gives beautiful views of canyons and geological formations.

Some easy trails recommended by other bloggers and friends are:

• The trail from dog canyon campground to Marcus Overlook
• McKittrick Canyon to Pratt's cabin and on to Grotto

We couldn't do any of these trails due to the lack of time.

The next day morning we started our return journey to Austin. 

That was our best South Western Texas and New Mexico trip. How did you like it?

Please let me know in the comments. 

Until next time,

Pin it for later!

Linking this to #FridayReflections hosted by Corinne. 

White Sands National Park, New Mexico - A Travelogue

This post may contain affiliate links, clicking on those links may earn some commission to us without any additional cost to you.

This post is the first part of our #NewMexico Family Travelogue. Read my post about the Top 5 places to visit in New Mexico, before this post. 

White Sands National park is around 500 miles from Colorado Springs. So, we decided to start driving from Thursday afternoon and reach Albuquerque by night and relax for the night before visiting the park. 

On the way to Albuquerque, we stopped at Santa Fe for dinner. If you love South Indian food, don't miss eating at 'Paper Dosa' restaurant in Santa Fe. We all enjoyed a hearty meal with Dosa and uthappam. Even the interior and decor are simple and pleasing. 

Paper Dosa

We reached Albuquerque by 10 Pm and relaxed for the night. The next morning after a full breakfast, we started our drive to White Sands. The drive is around 3.5 hrs from Albuquerque. So, we had lunch near Alamogordo, NM and reached around 2PM to White sands national park.

White Sands National Monument

White Sands is the world's largest Gypsum dune field. With white everywhere, even our eyes strained a bit. The dunes were white with soft sand. Fortunately, it was cloudy on that day with no/ less breeze. So, we had a lot of fun sledding on the sand.

White Sands national park is located in a dessert in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico. Around 100 million years ago, the water evaporated here leaving behind the deposits of salt and gypsum. 

As per Wiki,


The Sacramento and San Andres Mountains, with the Tularosa Basin between them, took shape approximately 250 million years ago. Giant upheavals in the Earth's crust distorted the land along with the gypsum deposits, forcing them high into the air about 70 million years ago. Rainfall and melted water came from the mountains causing the gypsum to percolate out and the concentrated solutions were washed down the mountainsides. The gypsum solution accumulated in Lake Lucero, the lowest part of the Tularosa Basin. Water in the lake does not have any means of escaping except by evaporation, which leaves behind thin layers of crystallized gypsum, or selenite. Weathering then reduced these crystals to fine, sandy grains. Winds then carried the grains farther up the basin, and the grains piled in steep dunes that often reach as high as 15 m (50 ft). The winds carved more dunes and, while at the same time, carried small amounts of the gypsum grains by distances of up to 9 m (30 ft) a year.


This constant movement still occurs today, and with the added alkaline and the little amount of rainfall makes it difficult for plants to grow here leaving the desert as desolate as it appears today.

The Visitor Center has many exhibits about the sand formation. $25 is the entry fee for each vehicle. You can get water only at the visitor center and, there is no availability of food and water inside the park. There are many picnic areas inside, so we can pack food and eat. Restrooms are available at the Visitor Center. The native plants of Chihuahuan dessert at the Visitor center are interesting!

 

Dunes Drive

We took the map, bought a sand sled, wax cube and started our drive. Dunes scenic drive is an 8-mile loop that goes into the heart of the White sands. There is sand on the road as well. At the starting of the scenic drive, there is a boardwalk built to walk and watch the dunes. We took some photos there, learned about desert life from the information posted.

Sand on the way too

The Rangers told us that the place where the drive takes a loop is good for sledding. With sunglasses ON, we walked, climbed on the dunes and enjoyed the sledding. Time went quickly and I would say, Kids easily spend 2 to 3 hrs on dunes by sledding.

Huge dunes of soft sand for sledding

We went on a cloudy day, but I suggest not to forget Cap, sunscreen, and sunglasses when you visit Sand dunes. Bring more water!!! There is an option to buy sleds and return them to get a few dollars back at the Visitor Center gift shop. We also bought a wax cube. By rubbing the wax cube on the sled, it slides better. 

These Picnic areas are so stylish!

We specifically wore bright color clothes just to look bright on a white background on all our photos. We had such a memorable experience and Kids enjoyed it a lot.

Our next stop was to Carlsbad. We took accommodation at White's city near Carlsbad Caverns national park. This decision was really helpful as the hotel was just 15 mins away from the entrance of the cave. So, it was easy for us to reach Caves early the next morning. 

Carlsbad is around 3.5 hrs from White Sands national park. We came through a route crossing a curvy road and mountains through Cloudcroft. The drive was beautiful and scenic. My next post will cover our travelogue on Carlsbad and the remaining New Mexico trip.

I hope you like my travelogue!

Until Next time,

Accommodations in Santa Fe: