White Sands National Park represents a personal milestone — my 40th National Park! It was also the third of our El Paso loop road trip. It is also one of the newest national parks, having just received an upgrade from national monument status in 2019. I agree that these sprawling gypsum sand dunes are deserving of National Park status, but this is a park that I felt like we were able to see pretty thoroughly in just a few hours of time. Certainly, you could spend more time if you wanted to take a longer hike through the dunes or go dune-sledding, which was extremely popular.
White Sands National Park sign 
A rippled, gypsum sand dune
We arrived early in the morning, shortly after the gates opened, and started with the one-mile Dune Life Nature Trail loop. The moon was still visible in the bright, blue sky over the dunes. It was an enjoyable trail that featured a lot of the desert plant life compared to other areas in the park. It was also a good option because you could see each trail marker from the prior one. Out on some of the larger dunes, it would be easy to get disoriented. Whatever you plan to do at the park, it is wise to avoid going during the hottest part of the day because there is no shade, and hiking on the sand could get dangerous quickly in high temperatures.
After the short hike, we ventured onto the Dunes Drive scenic road that takes you deeper into the gypsum dunefield. This 16-mile round trip is an excellent scenic drive. For part of the drive, you’re no longer on pavement, but instead on hard-packed gypsum. It’s a pretty cool visual effect driving on the white, sandy road.
Dunes Drive – paved section 
Dunes Drive – off the pavement
The road itself only takes about 45 minutes to drive, but you should probably allow some extra time for photos and dune exploration. There are picnic areas and multiple areas where you can park to do more hiking, sledding, or general exploring.
We wrapped up our visit in mid-morning with a stop at the Visitor Center gift shop (it wasn’t open yet when we made our early arrival).
We left White Sands and headed toward Las Cruces, making a stop along the way at the Dripping Springs Visitor Center in Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. This was another beautiful, scenic area that’s well worth a visit. We managed a short hike to La Cueva (the Cave) before moving on to Las Cruces to enjoy a good meal and air conditioning!