It comes as no shock to anyone who knows us personally or those who have been reading along, that we enjoy stepping outside of what most would consider normal travel patterns (i.e. hotel rooms and daily showers) and our trip to White Sands National Monument was no different. White Sands NM has an array of fun to be had during the day, but the true secret is in landing one of the ten primitive backcountry camping spots. The campsites are first-come first-served and can't be reserved online, so as soon as we landed in Albuquerque, NM we hit the road. Becoming familiar with the park you are visiting is very important and can come in handy when planning your visit. There are four major factors to be aware of when planning your visit to White Sands NM:

1. It has specific times throughout the year in which you must enter the park, and also times in which the gates close for the day.

2. White Sands is located within a missile testing range, and on certain days they preform missile test launches that close the park and prohibit camping.

3. Anyone camping must secure their site one hour before sunset to factor in the hike it takes to get to your spot.

4. When camping, you are locked in the park until the following morning. This also has a specific time based on which time of the year you are visiting.

With knowing all of this, we stopped at a grocery store to grab supplies for dinner and then did not stop again until we reached the park (we passed the "World's Largest Pistachio and had no time to stop for a picture...you can just imagine my disappointment). We arrived at the park with thirty minutes to spare and discovered that there were still some campsites to chose from (passing up the pistachio paid off I guess). Once we secured an awesome campsite and were given the "rules", we took our obligatory picture with the park's entry sign and started our drive to the trailhead.

Backcountry camping was an entirely new element that was added to this trip and without having our usual backpacking packs, we had to get a little creative with how we were going to get all of our stuff to the site. The hike to our site was roughly one mile, which doesn't seem like much until you factor in the rolling hills of sand with the addition all of your necessities strapped to your back and chest. When we reached our site and unloaded our bodies, it was in that moment that I forgot my throbbing collar bone and realized just what we were in store for that night. We were surrounded by untouched smooth white sand, a clear bright blue sky, and the desert silence that we have come to adore. After setting up camp, we grabbed our camp chairs and our favorite dinner of Chef Boyardee Ravioli, and headed to the top of the nearest dune to watch the sunset. Soon after the sun disappeared we realized that the full moon was going to spoil any hopes of a starry night and headed to bed....

Sometimes sleeping on the ground isn't always the most comfortable accommodation, but when the ground is sand you are guaranteed a really good sleep. Which is exactly what I was having until I was abruptly awakened by the loud clanking of cans. What. The. Heck?!? Once I found my heart at the foot of my sleeping bag, I was able to looked through the mesh of our tent to see a fox very close to us. The bright full moon had spoiled our star gazing, but came in handy for allowing me to see what was happening. Apparently our little visitor had gotten his paws on our trash and was licking our ravioli cans clean of any leftover sauce. I laid in the tent frozen solid while the animal lover in me was freaking out with excitement. I was trying so hard to remain calm (mainly due to the fact that he was a wild animal with probably very sharp teeth, and we were in the middle of nowhere with only a tent as shelter), but it got harder when he decided to come back to the tent to inspect for more food. It wasn't long before he and I were face to face with only the tent mesh between us. Realizing that we had nothing else for him, he let out a little whimper (I reminded myself once again that he was wild and that trying to pet him was probably not a good idea), and he soon left. I went back to sleep, but throughout the night he woke me up a few more times trying to take our shoes and playing with the trash bag. (A few notes: 1. We always keep "people food" and trash out of the reach of wild animals, but in this case we thought we were doing enough by keeping everything in a trash bag and hidden. Whereas it may not seem like a big deal, any amount of "people food" that wild animals get can do a lot of damage in terms of their own safety. We learned our lesson and even though it was a very cool experience, it isn't ideal for the protection of the animal. 2. We never leave any trash behind so the next morning we collected the mess that our visitor made and carried it out with us. If you have the ability to bring it to your campsite, please have the courtesy to take it back out with you. 3. Wild animals are just that: wild. National Parks are not zoos and even though the animals within the parks are exposed to humans, they are still very unpredictable. Respect their space.)

When early morning arrived we climbed back up the same dune from last night to watch the sunrise. After watching the sun come up above the surrounding mountains, we headed back to camp for breakfast and began packing up camp. We explored further past our campsite and hiked the opposite way back to the car to get the full experience of the trail, and on our way out we drove the park's scenic loop. White Sands had been a very memorable host, but it was time to move on and we had a campsite waiting for us in Chiricahua National Monument!

Our #meadadventures tips for visiting White Sands NM:

Check the park's website for any alerts and compare the entry times with the dates that you will be visiting.
White Sands is a desert. This means temperatures can vary greatly from when the sun is up than it is at night. Be prepared for a hot hike to your site (or while you're playing on the dunes) by bringing along plenty of water, sunglasses, and maybe even a hat to shield your face/neck. For night I would recommend warm layers and a jacket...I even packed along some "Hot Hands" just in case temperatures got drastic.
The campsites are very primitive...no toilets unless you want to make the hike back to the trailhead...we brought our own roll of toilet paper just in case.
Water and food only exist at the Visitor's Center and you are locked in the park at sunset...it is best to pack food and PLENTY of water. We bought things that were easy to eat like fruit, granola bars, Chef Boyardee (make sure you get the cans with the pull tabs or you will be very sad when dinner time arrives), trail mix, etc.
Packing along a tripod and a good camera is a must for all of the amazing things that you will see!
Sledding down the dunes is an actual thing and you can buy a sled at the visitor center gift shop...they even give you some of your money back if you return it.
HAVE FUN!!

This was just the start of a #meadadventures....there's plenty more to come!!