White Sands Backcountry Camping

Backcountry camping at White Sands is closed, and the National Park Service has not established a reopening date. Do not plan an overnight stay here. Check the park’s current conditions before making camping plans. The ten primitive sites remain a backcountry camping area reached on foot from the Backcountry Camping Trail.

The marked loop is a moderate two miles round trip and takes about an hour and a half for many hikers. It crosses steep dunes with loose footing; orange spade markers guide the way. Day hikers use the same loop, so it isn't a route reserved for campers. There’s no shade, water or toilet along the trail. Two vault toilets are at the trailhead.

Visitors repeatedly mention the stars, and some single out the light around sunset or sunrise. The open dunefield gives the sky a big role in the visit; the sandy walk and exposed route are the price of getting that quiet.

This isn't ordinary quartz sand. The gypsum began as deposits in ancient seas, dissolved into Lake Otero during the last Ice Age, and returned to the basin floor as the lake dried around 12,000 years ago. Wind broke and polished selenite crystals into the bright grains that move across the Tularosa Basin today.