03/03/2021
Viewed from 9,000 feet elevation on the front lawn of The Lodge Resort in Cloudcroft, distant White Sands shimmers as an immense snow-white expanse on the Tularosa Basin’s tawny desert landscape that stretches to the western horizon.
Mystery and Majesty
Visitors can hike over the dunes and explore the plants and animals that have adapted to this unique environment. Photo by Rob McCorkle.
This 275-square-mile anomaly of undulating gypsum sand dunes, established as a national monument in 1933, has drawn humans for more than 10,000 years to its otherworldly environs. Today, even in the midst of a pandemic, the recently designated national park attracts record numbers of visitors from all over.