White Sands National Park in 15 photos

White Sands National Park, tucked in southern New Mexico, is unlike anywhere else on Earth. Take in the phenomenal gypsum-filled landscape with this photo journal, featuring 15 scenes from my trip to the sand dunes.

Our sandals sank softly into the sand as we crossed the white desert to our campsite, a small and unassuming spot just a mile away. Encased by the mountain’s dark blue silhouette ahead and shined upon by the unrelenting sun, the scene was impossibly bright. Undulating hills stretched in every direction, each so flawlessly shaped that it could be have been sculpted by the delicate hands of an artist. Against the white, everything in the desert was on display; every shrub a brighter shade of green, each beetle unable to hide, every flower a more powerful purple.

Since our visit in May 2019, White Sands has been promoted from national monument to the 61st U.S. National Park. With this designation comes greater popularity, though the integrity of the landscape remains largely untouched. With White Sands, what you see is what you get: a lot of white sand. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more or anything less. For this reason, a single day of exploration is more than enough for most visitors. For us, we had a hankering for a desert sunrise and opted to camp for a night to have a proper frolic through the endless sand.