White Sands NP: Dunes Like Snow, Skies Like Fire

A Few Words About White Sands National Park (WSNP)

White Sands’ journey to national park status reflected a growing recognition of its scientific and cultural significance. For thousands of years, the gypsum dune field lay within the traditional lands of Indigenous peoples, and recent discoveries of fossilized human footprints dating back roughly 23,000 years reveal that Ice Age humans once crossed the ancient Lake Otero here. In the modern era, the area drew attention for its incomparable scenery and unusual geology, leading President Herbert Hoover to designate it White Sands National Monument in 1933 to protect the world’s largest gypsum dune field.

For decades, the protected dune fields and the White Sands Missile Range, both situated within the Tularosa Basin, have coexisted and created a rare overlap of protected landscape and active defense use. Continued scientific research, growing visitation, and increased understanding of its global rarity ultimately led to its redesignation as WSNP in 2019.

White Sands Timeline

250 Million Years Ago: Ancient Seas Supply Gypsum

The landscape of WSNP is the product of an unusually long and interconnected geological story that begins more than 250 million years ago. During this era, this region lay under the shallow marine waters of the Permian Sea. Thick layers of gypsum-bearing sediments accumulated as seawater repeatedly flooded and evaporated. Over time these gypsum-rich layers were turned into sedimentary rock.

30 Million Years Ago: Mountain Uplift Expose Gypsum Layers

The Earth's crust began to stretch and become thinner, fracturing along large faults. Some sections of the crust sank to create basins like the Tularosa Basin, visible in the photo as the region flanked by mountains on both sides. Adjacent blocks were uplifted, forming mountain ranges such as the San Andres Mountains on the left and the Sacramento Mountains on the right. As these mountains rose, they exposed layers of gypsum-rich rock, formed when the Permian Sea once covered this region.

30-2 Million Years Ago: Ice Age Lakes Collect Gypsum-Rich Runoff

Formation was not a single event, Tularosa Basin continued to deepen and widen over millions of years. Over the last 2 million years, rain and snowmelt gradually dissolved the exposed gypsum and carried it downslope into the closed basin with no outlet to the sea. During wetter periods of the Ice Age, runoff pooled here to form Lake Otero, an ancient 1,600-square mile lake that covered much of the basin.

10,000 Years Ago to Present: Winds Turn Gypsum Into Sand

As the climate warmed and Lake Otero evaporated, gypsum crystals were left behind. Wind gradually broke these crystals into sand-sized grains and pushed them across the basin. Over thousands of years, this process built the largest gypsum dune field on Earth.

Even today, rain and groundwater replenish dissolved gypsum from the mountains and winds continue to sculpt the dunes.

The dunes in White Sands are not solid hills of sand but a thin mobile layer of gypsum. Most dunes are only 15-60 feet thick sitting atop compact clays and gypsum-rich deposits left behind by Ice Age Lake Otero. So while the dunes feel deep underfoot, they are just a thin skin over the terrain.

The shallow depth of the dunes is key to how the landscape is shaped. Because the gypsum layer is relatively thin and loose, wind easily move it. According to the National Park Service, dunes in the areas that we visited migrate on average 6-13 feet per year. Slower-moving dunes on the edges of the park might only move a few feet or even inches annually, depending on wind strength, sand supply, and vegetation anchoring them in place

Exploring WSNP is a one-of-a-kind geological experience. Outside of the park, there are only a few minor localized gypsum deposits in the United States (Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and west Texas) but conditions at these sites do not support large scale dune development.

White Sands presents a unique combination of conditions that contribute to dune formation. Remove any of these factor and gypsum dunes don't form

• The Tularosa Basin is closed with no outlet.

• Gypsum is continually supplied from the surrounding mountains.

• Strong winds rework dried lakebed crystals into sand grains and dunes.

Sledding on the Dunes

Sledding on the soft sand at WSNP is a popular and great fun. Unlike snow, sand isn't slippery, so sliding down a dune requires some practice. Waxed plastic snow saucers work best and can be rented or purchased at the park's gift shop. We opted to bring saucers from our Airbnb. It's definitely worth trying.

Sunsets are Magical

No trip to the park is complete without watching sunset over the dunes. Sunsets are unusually vivid because light, land, and atmosphere amplify one another in ways few landscapes can. With low relative humidity and minimal vegetation there is little haze to mute colors, Dust in the high desert scatter light just enough to intensity reds and oranges without turning the sky dull Even before sunset, unusual shadows and silhouettes provide stunning photos.

It's easy to find an unobstructed seat for the show. Open horizons keep the focus on the dunes and mountains in the background.

Gypsum dunes supercharge the color. Quartz deserts and dunes darken at dusk while White Sands seems to lighten up. Gypsum reflects the fading light rather than absorbs it. As the sun sets, the pure white dunes become a reflective surface. Shadows extend and define the shape of the dunes and the dunes take on a cool blue hue.

The sky is filled with classic sunset hues of reds, oranges, and pinks. The light reflecting off the white ground prolongs the colors even after the sun disappears behind the mountains.

Why the Dune Life Nature Trail

Even though we had limited time during our visit, we managed to fit in a quick hike on the Dune Life Nature Trail. This trail offers one of the best ways to understand White Sands beyond its beauty. This short loop walks hikers through an ecotone, the transition zone where active gypsum dunes meet more stable desert soils and reveal a diverse ecosystem.

Hike Distance: 1.0 miles

Elevation Gain: <50 feet

TrailsNH Hiking Difficulty Calculator: 10 – Easy however, the loose soft sand makes the trail feel more difficult than the actual score. 

Click here to navigate to the TrailsNH website for a description of the hiking difficulty calculator

Let's Go Hiking

After hiking for a few minutes, a glance back at the parking area highlights that this is not your typical sand dune setting. Extensive grass field grow at the start of the Dune Life Nature Trail because that area sits in a more stable, moisture-holding transition zone between firm desert soils and the active gypsum dunes. Unlike loose dune sand, the ground at the start of the trail contains compacted sediments and fine particles that allow grasses to anchor roots instead of being blown out or buried.

The tall dune, at the edge of the grassy area, develops because gypsum-carrying wind

loses energy as it sweeps across the vegetation and quickly drops its load of sand at the edge building the dune. This is the transition zone or ecotone where firm soils end and the dune fields begin.

Late-summer yellow rabbitbrush blooms at the foot of the dune.

Dense vegetation traps blowing gypsum causing the dunes to grow vertically instead of spreading outward.

It’s a powerful feedback loop: vegetation brings stability which encourages more vegetation to take root and further stabilize the dune.

Since the constantly blowing and shifting sand makes construction of a standard trail impossible, 3-foot high trail markers guide you through the loop. The blue trail marker here was almost hidden by the shrubs. Quick rule: You should always be able to see a marker ahead; if you can't, it is time to turn around

The soap tree yucca is iconic at White Sands because it’s one of the only plants that truly owns the dunes. Most plants can’t tolerate the instability or mineral chemistry but soap tree yucca can. Its deep, fibrous root system anchors it in moving sand while tapping moisture far below the surface.

It grows with the dunes. As gypsum sand piles up around it, the yucca doesn’t suffocate. Instead, it elongates its trunk upward, keeping its leaf crown above the drifting surface. In a landscape that is always migrating, the yucca migrates upward.

Waking on the open dune field is a different experience with few visual markers to help with navigation. Yet people have been traveling through this ‘sand corridor’ for millennia.

In a sea of gypsum dunes, where most plants hug the ground or evolve needle-like austerity, this broad-leafed cottonwood trees suggests something deeper at work.

Cottonwoods are water-loving trees. Its presence signals that groundwater lies close enough to the surface for its taproot to reach.

The exposed roots in this photo represent only a fraction of the tree’s root system. In the dunes, sand buries roots then wind strips it away; it’s an ongoing process. It also helps that cottonwoods are opportunistic. If a root section is damaged, they can quickly grow new feeder roots when conditions allow.

Juvenile soap tree yucca piercing the surface in an attempt to keep up with the shifting sands.

The Dune Life Nature Trail is short on distance but big on insights. In less than a mile it shows how plants survive in the shifting gypsum dune. At the same time it provides an opportunity to experience the isolating feeling of walking in an open desert environment with few barriers or markers to guide you.

A short but ideal visit to White Sands National Park.

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