State of New Mexico

White Sands National Park, the 84th federal park I have visited, is an utterly mesmerizing and surreal destination. The first glimpse of the sea of white gypsum sand dunes is breathtaking. Anticipation grows as the New Mexico landscape changes in appearance and color. Gleaming white sand stretches as far as the eye can see, contrasting beautifully with the blue sky and distant mountains. I hadn’t experienced anything like it before, leaving me without anything to accurately compare it to.

The landscape of White Sands is constantly shifting and changing shape. With every breeze, the graceful curves of the sand slowly and sometimes suddenly change. Plants are often buried or left exposed by the shifting of the dunes. The roads and parking areas are plowed, which is both a familiar and foreign concept. The one constant about the Chihuahuan Desert landscape is change.

One thing that hasn’t changed is my appreciation for architecture. The visitor center building is a Spanish pueblo-adobe (“Pueblo-Revival”) structure. This structure, like many others similar to it in style, was constructed during the years of the Great Depression. This architectural style was often used at national parks and monuments in both New Mexico and Arizona. When at the visitor centers of these parks constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), I often spend a considerable amount of time admiring the details and craftsmanship. Today, these structures are part of the history of the locations they serve to inform and protect.

Brief History of White Sands

At the location of what is now White Sands, the landscape and climate once differed significantly. Tens of thousands of years ago, during the ice age, Lake Otero occupied this area. The vegetation thrived, resembling a Midwestern prairie grassland stretching for miles.

Ancient camels, Columbian mammoths, and Harlan’s ground sloth left fossilized footprints here. Predators such as the dire wolf and American lion also left footprints, as they hunted the ice-age creatures that fed on the lush green landscape.

Human footprints found at White Sands have significantly altered our understanding of when people first arrived in North America. Scientists now believe that humans have existed in North America for at least 23,000 years, pushing back the timeline by 8,000 years from previous estimates.

Around 200 C.E., the Jornada Mogollon became the first people to develop permanent housing in the Tularosa Basin after the Archaic period. Like many other cultures in the area, they initially lived in pithouses—circular homes dug into the ground. As their culture developed, they transitioned to constructing square houses using adobe mud. The Jornada Mogollon were farmers who also hunted and gathered local resources for survival. By 1350 C.E., they abandoned the area, leaving behind evidence of their existence in broken pottery sherds.

The Jornada Mogollon likely left the area due to poor crop yields or drought. Later, the Apache inhabited this area, living in temporary structures. Constantly on the move, they hunted and gathered to support their existence. The Apache established a sizable territory and defended it fiercely against settlers until the United States Army forcibly removed them.

More Information for Your White Sands National Park Visit

If you found this article interesting, explore my other visits to state parks or national parks in New Mexico. Or check out other articles related to the Indigenous People of the Southwest or Indigenous Peoples of North America.

For more information about White Sands National Park, its days and hours of operation, as well as fees, visit nps.gov. Also newmexico.org for other information that might improve your visit.

Location

White Sands National Park
19955 Highway 70 West
Alamogordo, NM 88310