White Sands National Monument - New Mexico

Address:Holloman AFB, New Mexico
Tel: (505) 679-2599

Chances are you've never seen anything like White Sands before. The sparkling dunes of White Sands National Monument near the Tularosa Basin are hard to match in both beauty and rarity. The constantly moving and changing windswept dunes are part of the largest gypsum dune field in the world.
Visitors can check the dunes out on foot or via a beautiful eight-mile scenic drive. The outstanding Interdune Boardwalk trail makes it possible for children in strollers and those who are immobile to enjoy the splendor of the park. All visitors will revel in the park's most exciting and unique outdoor activity - dune sledding. Bring a box, toboggan, or whatever you've got, and let her rip. It's all the fun of traditional sledding without the ice and snow.

At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert lies a mountain ringed valley called the Tularosa Basin. Rising from the heart of this basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and have created the world's largest gypsum dune field. The brilliant white dunes are ever changing: growing, cresting, then slumping, but always advancing. Within the extremely harsh environment of the dune field, even plants and animals adapted to desert conditions struggle to survive. Only a few species of plants grow rapidly enough to survive burial by moving dunes, but several types of small animals have evolved a white coloration that camouflages them in the gypsum sand. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this gypsum dune field, along with the plants and animals that have successfully adapted to this constantly changing environment.