White Sands National Monument

At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert lies a mountain ringed valley, the Tularosa Basin. Rising from the heart of this basin is one of the world's great natural wonders-the glistening white sands of New Mexico.

Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and have created the world's largest gypsum dune field. The brilliant white dunes are ever changing: growing, cresting, then slumping, but always advancing. Slowly but relentlessly the sand, driven by strong southwest winds, covers everything in its path. Within the extremely harsh environment of the dune field, even plants and animals adapted to desert conditions struggle to survive. Only a few species of plants grow rapidly enough to survive burial by moving dunes, but several types of small animals have evolved a white coloration that camouflages them in the gypsum sand.

White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this gypsum dune field, along with the plants and animals that have successfully adapted to this constantly changing environment.

VISITATION:
Visitation varies from about 30,000 people in the winter months of November through January to 60 to 70,000 people in March through August.

LOCATION:
Alamogordo, New Mexico

ADDRESS:
White Sands National Monument
P.O. Box 1086
Holloman AFB, New Mexico 88330

TELEPHONE:
(505)479-6124

OPERATING HOURS, SEASONS:
The monument is open daily, except Christmas Day.
Summer hours (Memorial Day through mid-August):
Visitor Center 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.,
Dunes Drive 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Winter hours: Visitor Center 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.,
Dunes Drive 7:00 a.m. - sunset.

All images are Copyright 1995 Mary Saxton. Any reproduction of images must leave images unaltered and give full credit to Mary Saxton.



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