White Sands National Monument has 10 primitive campsites that are accessible by hiking along a backcountry loop trail. In order to camp at White Sands, you must register and get a permit at the visitor center.
Because it was the Sunday before Memorial Day, we arrived 45 minutes before the visitor center opened to make sure we were able to get a campsite. Advanced reservations are not available, it is first-come-first-served. There was already four other people waiting in line for the doors to open. We took our place in line and chatted with the people in front of us.
Once we secured our permit, we spent the morning hiking through the glistening sand. During our exploration, we came across these large ant mounds, exposed by the wind and shifting sand. We cooled off in the shade of these mounds and the trees growing on top of them.
We returned to the car and gathered our camping gear onto our backs. We soon discovered that climbing the gypsum dunes with camping gear strapped to your back is not the easiest task. Our site was one of the farthest spots from the parking lot. Eventually we made it to our site and set up camp.
In the evening and at night is when the real magic of the dunes happens. We climbed to the top of the nearest dune and watched the sunset. As the sun moved behind the mountains, the wind picked up and the temperature began to cool. That night it was overcast and no stars could be seen.
Our initial plan was to stay only one night, then continue on our journey. However, we were disappointed we did not get to see the stars, so in the morning we went and reserved our campsite for another night.
It was worth it!
That night, we were treated with the beauty of the light of an almost full moon reflecting off the grains of sand. It was so bright we didn't need flashlights. Once the moon moved below the horizon, the milky way began reaching across the sky.
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