With its 232 square miles of white gypsum sand dunes, White Sands is one of the most unique national parks in the US and a destination you really shouldn’t miss. Here are a few fun facts about White Sands National Park that you might not know:
It’s Cool to the Touch: Unlike most sand, which is made of silica crystals, the dunes at White Sands don’t absorb heat from the sun, making them cool to the touch year-round. That’s because the sand is made of gypsum, which also gives it a distinctive snow-white appearance. Gypsum sand is soft, cool, and highly soluble, so it dissolves in water. While gypsum can be found all over the globe, White Sands is the only large dune field of gypsum sand on Earth.
The Park is Surrounded by a Missile Range: White Sands National Park is bordered by the White Sands Missile Range, founded in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range. The name “Alamogordo” might be familiar to anyone who watched Oppenheimer; the famous “Trinity” nuclear bomb test, dramatized in the movie, happened right here at White Sands. The range is mostly used to test electronic missile defense systems these days, although you can still find unexploded missiles buried in the sand throughout the national park. Make sure to let the rangers know if you spot one!
It’s Hollywood Royalty: Besides Oppenheimer, the park has been connected to plenty of other Hollywood movies throughout the years. A ton of films were shot on location at White Sands, including the Clint Eastwood western Hang ‘Em High, David Bowie’s first starring role in The Man Who Fell to Earth, the first two Transformers movies, and the apocalyptic thriller The Book of Eli.
To learn more about White Sands, check out our White Sands National Park Self-Guided Driving Tour, or you can sign up for Action+ and gain access to over 100 tours for a single yearly price.
