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White Sands National Monument / Las Cruces, New Mexico

March 8th, 2019 by Chris Taulborg (SoSimple Support)


After El Paso, we continued West toward Tucson. On the way we decided to stop at Las Cruces, New Mexico and use it as a kick-off point to get to White Sands National Monument. The first day, we were stuck inside because of a sudden dust storm (which apparently are a common thing here).


A nice way to spend a sand-stormy day :)

The next day, we headed out to White Sands National Monument. Wow, what a crazy cool place!


This was our view in all directions - pretty out of this world and the complete opposite of Craters of the Moon National Monument

We ended up doing a 5 mile hike on the Alkali Flat Trail. It wasn't overly difficult, but it was a bit monotonous for the kids as the scenery didn't change much for the duration. Luckily, snacks and lollypops saved the day.

I also attempted to see how far I could jump off a sand dune. This picture certainly made me look pretty legit:


Look at me go.

However, reality was a little less impressive:

Thud.

No trip to White Sands would be complete without buying overpriced sleds from the gift shop and sliding down the dunes. It was fun, but probably not $40 fun. We were able to sell them back to the gift shop and get a little money back, so that helped ease the pain a bit.

I was also able to get a 17 mile ride in on the Sierra Vista Trail just east of Las Cruces. I think I got too much sun at White Sands, as this ride ended feeling wayyy harder than it should have!


My bike, however, hardly broke a sweat.