Guadalupe Mountains & White Sands National Park
NM —> TX —> NM
Hi friends,
In this post, you’ll learn about two more national parks I got to visit — Guadalupe Mountains & White Sands National Park. For those keeping score at home, they were my 3rd and 4th national parks along my trip, joining Hot Springs and Carlsbad Caverns National Parks.
Guadalupe Mountains NP, which is actually back in Texas, was only about 30 minutes from Carlsbad Caverns so I decided to visit both in the same day. I won’t bury the lead — this definitely was my least favorite park. It was “Texas pretty” if you get my drift. But it was easy to get in and out and had some cool historical places like Pinery Station, which was part of the Butterfield Overland Route — the first mail route from St. Louis to San Francisco. A very fitting place to write a postcard to my niece and nephew! The park is also home to the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Peak. Even though I was a little underwhelmed, I’m still glad I stopped and saw it!
The next stop was over to Las Cruces, back over in New Mexico. Now, I’ve traveled plenty of rural roads in my life. But the road from Guadalupe Mountains to El Paso was de-so-late. Like no gas station for 70 miles, SOS on the cell, and more flat, dusty land that you would ever see in your life. I made a habit of not letting my gas tank go below half, especially when I was out west, and it served me well. I was thrilled to get back to civilization in El Paso!
I chose to stay in Las Cruces, NM because it was close-ish to my 5th national park, White Sands. Las Cruces was a cute little town with vibrant murals and a few bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. My Airbnb wasn’t too far from the main drag so everything was in walking distance.
About an hour away was White Sands National Park, a place I’ve known about and wanted to visit for a LONG time. Back in 1995, the R&B group Boyz II Men filmed the video for their song Water Runs Dry at White Sands National Park. I have no idea why but I’ve always been so intrigued by WSNP so I had to make it happen. The park is located near Holloman Air Force Base and within White Sands Missile Base — super safe right?? 😳
It did NOT disappoint and 13-year-old Megan was geeking out! Most of the park was actually closed due to a fighter jet crashing in the park a few days before but I was able to enjoy the dunes that were open. Just like being at the beach with no water. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I loved it so much — it reminded me of home. I was able to do a “sand angel” and there were even people using sleds to slide down the dunes (though it didn’t look like they were having much success).
After I was done basking in the sand, I ventured out to a little town called Cloudcroft (elevation 8,670) that had been recommended. The drive up was ah-mazing! I had lunch at Cloudcroft Brewing Co., a little brewery and pizza place, and also stopped for an epic view from Lincoln National Forest.
So far, I was loving the Land of Enchantment yet still had three more stops to go — Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Four Corners and Gallup. And on May 6, I had officially hit my first 3,000 miles.
Love and light,
MW