White Sands National Park Entrance Sign

This is a park-name sign at the visitor-center approach on US 70. It's a quick photo stop to pair with the visitor center, not the fee station; that is about a quarter mile farther along Dunes Drive. If you can reach the sign safely, frame its name with the yucca and pale gravel at its base to give the picture a sense of place.

Use the visitor-center lots; the larger south lot is closest to US 70. Don't stop on the highway shoulder for a photo. The walking route from the lots to the sign isn't clear, so only head over if there's an obvious safe way. While it is open, the center has public restrooms and a store with sleds, prepackaged food and bottled water. You can refill water there before driving into the dunes.

The visitor center nearby is an adobe Pueblo-Revival building completed in 1938. Construction began in 1936, and WPA and other government-agency work cost $31,600. The center and seven nearby buildings make up White Sands Historic District, designated in 1990.