Home Care In White Sands, NM

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. – Throughout October, White Sands National Park will celebrate National Fossil Day (Oct. 14) with a series of special programs exploring the Ice Age human and mammal fossilized footprints preserved throughout the park.

Programs will be offered from Oct. 2 – 28 and will include guided hikes along the new Ice Age Trail, ranger talks, drop-in programming and a special presentation associated with the October Full Moon Night on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 5:30 p.m. Through these activities, visitors can discover the scientific importance of White Sands’ fossil resources and learn about ongoing research that uncovers stories from ancient lake shores and beneath the dunes.

White Sands National Park preserves one of the world’s largest concentrations of Ice Age fossil footprints. The park’s fossil trackways provide a rare record of life back as far as 21,000 – 23,000 years ago, offering important insights into the people and animals that once occupied the landscape.

National Fossil Day is an annual celebration highlighting paleontology’s scientific and educational value and the importance of preserving fossils for future generations. This year’s event takes place on Oct. 14. In recognition of the significance of the park’s fossilized footprint resources, White Sands National Park is featured on the official 2026 National Fossil Day poster.

Throughout October, visitors can discover White Sands’ remarkable fossil heritage and learn about Pleistocene megafauna and the human footprints preserved beneath the glistening white sands for thousands of years.

2026 National Fossil Day Program Schedule

Ice Age Life Within Drop-in Programs Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in October from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Drop in at the White Sands National Park visitor center courtyard to examine casts and molds of Ice Age fossilized footprints, along with replica skulls of large mammals that lived in the park tens of thousands of years ago. Rangers will discuss how humans and Ice Age animals traveled across the same landscape and interacted with one another.

Ranger-Guided Walks of the Ice Age Trail (formerly the Playa Trail) Wednesday, Oct. 7 and Oct. 28 at 10 a.m.

Join park rangers for a guided walk along the 0.8-mile Ice Age Trail. Participants will learn about the Pleistocene landscape, its mammal and human inhabitants and the discovery of fossilized footprints in the park.

National Fossil Day Drop-in Program Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Celebrate National Fossil Day in the visitor center courtyard. Park scientists will share information about the park’s fossilized footprints, while visitors can view rarely exhibited footprint casts, molds and museum collections. October Full Moon Night Presentation Sunday, Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m.

Join Resource Management Program Manager David Bustos at the park’s natural outdoor amphitheater for a special ranger presentation about the fossilized footprints found in the park. Bustos will explore the fascinating story of prey and predators as he guides visitors on a journey through life at White Sands that 23,000 years ago. Learn the tales of ancient humans, how they hunted, how they lived and the current study of the fossilized footprints found at White Sands.

The program is free, but park entrance fees will apply. Event parking will open at 4 p.m. The presentation will start at 6:30 p.m. and last approximately 90 minutes, including time for questions and answers. The park will have extended hours until 8 p.m. that evening.

For more information, visit the park calendar webpage.

About the National Park Service. Established in 1916, the National Park Service preserves America’s most treasured natural and cultural places for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of current and future generations. Learn more at nps.gov.

Meet Sarah Sherwood, whose journey has taken her from internships to seasonal jobs, and now a permanent position as an Interpretive Park Ranger at White Sands National Park in New Mexico! Read on to learn more about her career pathway and love for the National Park Service.

What was your pathway to the NPS? Did you participate in an internship program?

Like many young adults, I didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career when I went to college. I double majored in Mathematical Sciences and Psychology and minored in Statistics because the subjects interested me, and I figured that those skills would be useful no matter what field I entered. During my junior year, I started to feel the pressure to make a post-graduate plan. I considered my criteria for my ideal job: I wanted to do something that made a positive impact on my community, not just generate profit. I considered the environments where I feel the most fulfilled and my mind immediately went to my family’s annual camping trips to national parks. For the first time in my life, I realized that the people giving the campfire talks I loved so much growing up are paid to do so.

I started my career research by simply Googling “how to become a park ranger” and discovered that you can qualify for most National Park Service positions either through education or experience. Since my educational background wasn’t enough on its own for interpretation (my new dream job), I realized that I would have to do some internships to bolster the experience section of my resume.

During the summer between my junior and senior years of college, I completed my first season as a Student Conservation Association (SCA) intern at White Horse Hill National Game Preserve in North Dakota (then called “Sullys Hill”), a U.S. Fish and Wildlife site that’s home to bison, elk, and prairie dogs. As the Visitor Center and Conservation intern, I was one of only two onsite employees. I helped run the daily operations at the visitor center, including managing the gift shop, overseeing volunteers, performing maintenance, and orienting visitors. In addition, I got to participate in an incredible local program where the nearby 5th grade classes would spend half of their school day at the preserve, using the natural environment to enhance their core curriculum. For example, their math lessons would include measuring the circumference of trees and their art classes were inspired by local flora and fauna. As I helped lead these lessons, I learned that I too have a deep-seated passion for using the local environment as an educational lens.

After I graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2018, I did a year as an Interpretive Ranger in the New Hampshire Conservation Corps, a joint SCA/AmeriCorps program in New Hampshire’s state parks. Unlike many other internships, this corps is a residential, collaborative program that hosts a cohort of 30 service members every year. We lived in log cabins in the middle of the woods, cooking, working, and recreating as a team. For the first four months of the program, we all provided environmental education lessons to classes in the Manchester public schools. Then, we split into two groups, with two-thirds of the cohort (about 20 members) becoming Conservation Stewards and completing various trail maintenance, construction, and rehabilitation projects throughout the state. The other ten of us were Interpretive Rangers stationed at a dozen state parks, where we provided programs including campfire talks, tabling demonstrations, and guided hikes. Since the New Hampshie Parks and Recreation Department does not employ its own interpreters, we served as the sole educators for the state’s parks that summer.

Next, I spent two terms as the Community Volunteer Ambassador (CVA) at Indiana Dunes National Park – my very first position in the coveted National Park Service! I became interested in the CVA program because it can qualify you for the Public Lands Corps (PLC) hiring authority – basically, an advantage when applying to permanent federal positions. I began my new job in February 2020 and, as you may be able to infer, had a chaotic first term. As the pandemic raged and parks closed, I spent the year doing professional development, creating online volunteer opportunities, and working alongside an NPS interpretation and education division for the first time. I decided to stick around for a second year with the hope that I’d be able to do some more hands-on, boots-on-the-ground work, and sure enough, that’s what 2021 brought. I learned how to organize large-scale volunteer events, onboarded new volunteers, wrote newsletters and social media posts, and even played a role in the grand opening of Pullman National Monument (now Pullman National Historical Park), where I got to meet Secretary Deb Haaland!

In 2022, I finally donned the long-awaited green and gray as a seasonal Cave Guide at Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, where I gave up to three 1.5-hour tours through the caves each day. Then I secured my first permanent position (aided by the aforementioned PLC hiring authority) as an Administrative Assistant for Nez Perce National Historical Park, Whitman Mission National Historic Site, Big Hole National Battlefield, and Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Working in admin was a major shift and I quickly learned that full-time office life is not for me. Despite missing the outdoor and social aspects of my previous positions, I gained more insight about the National Park Service in that job than I have in all the others combined. Administrators truly touch everything in the parks, from overarching policy down to each pen and pencil that’s purchased. I got to work with the Management team and even served as the executive assistant for a group of Superintendents in the Pacific West Region. By working for four parks at once, I maximized my knowledge intake while solidifying my desire to return to the interpretation world.

I am currently living out my dream as a Park Guide at White Sands National Park in Alamogordo, New Mexico. As an interpretive ranger, it’s my job to educate and enhance visitor experience through programs and other communications. My usual day includes a shift on the Visitor Center front desk, welcoming visitors and answering questions; a program such as a guided hike or drop-in table; some time answering visitors’ and students’ emails, phone calls, and letters; and work on other park communications, including the website and social media. All my job duties are centered around connecting people to the park and helping them make meaningful memories during their visit.

Located in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert, White Sands National Park is known as the only gypsum dunefield of its size (275 square miles) in the entire world. The unique alien landscape is home to over 40 endemic species, many of which have developed a white coloration to camouflage themselves against the glittering sand. Our ancient fossilized footprints, local military and space history, rare geologic conditions, and popularity as a commercial filming location all add to the park’s allure. During the summer, we offer unique opportunities to experience the dunes under the night sky through our Moonlight Hikes and Full Moon Night programs. Throughout the year, we offer nightly Sunset Strolls, where an educational ranger-guided hike culminates in sunset viewing at the top of a dune. Whether you’re looking for introspective solitude or a day of raucous recreation, White Sands has something for everyone!

The kids! I vividly remember how awe-inspiring it was to talk to a park ranger when I was a kid and I love providing that experience for children now. I get the opportunity to connect with young students across the country who contact the park for help on school projects or just to learn something new. They always have the most interesting questions and perspectives. I hope that by making their national park experience as memorable as possible, they’ll grow up to love conservation, public lands, and nature as much as I do. Through education and inspiration, we can ensure that the next generation is chock full of stewards who will carry on the legacy of the National Park Service.

What advice do you have for youth and young adults thinking about a career at NPS?

Be open to new opportunities! Although interpretation is one of the more recognizable careers in the National Park Service, there is truly a niche for every interest. Try an internship in a different division, move to a state you’ve never considered living in before, say yes to every training, and talk to the visitors and employees you’ve yet to connect with. Keep an open mind and never turn down an opportunity to learn. You never know when and where you’ll find your park or program!

In true park ranger fashion, I love any and all outdoor activities, especially hiking, skiing (downhill and cross-country), camping, and swimming. I’m an avid reader and love swapping books with friends and family. During the pandemic, I took up cross-stitching and roller derby!

Elijah Rey Reyes

The sun going down usually signals the end of the day at White Sands National Park. On a few nights each year, it marks the beginning of an entirely different experience.

Moonlight Hikes take visitors along the Dune Life Nature Trail after sunset, where the rising full moon reflects from the park’s white gypsum dunes as participants make their way across the landscape with a ranger. The roughly one-mile hike is one of the few opportunities visitors have to remain in the park beyond its regular closing time.

“It’s almost like a magical glow of the moon that they get to experience at night on that trail,” said Brian Powers, program manager of interpretation and public information officer at White Sands National Park.

The highly reflective gypsum keeps the landscape surprisingly visible after sunset, Powers said, creating conditions that fall somewhere between daytime and complete darkness. With the Sacramento Mountains in the distance and fewer of the sights and sounds that accompany a typical day on the dunes, the familiar landscape takes on a different appearance.

“It’s not quite daylight, but not quite darkness,” Powers said.

That opportunity is limited because White Sands typically closes between 30 minutes and an hour after sunset. The hikes are among the few ranger programs that allow visitors to experience the park later, and demand regularly exceeds the number of available spaces.

Tickets can sell out within minutes of becoming available, Powers said, with some visitors telling park staff they have tried for months or even years to secure a spot. The next Moonlight Hike, scheduled for Sept. 27, is already sold out, according to Recreation.gov.

The demand extends well beyond southern New Mexico. Powers said the hikes draw in visitors from Las Cruces, Alamogordo, El Paso, Albuquerque and Ruidoso, along with travelers from across the country and abroad. Some plan larger trips around the chance to attend.

Once on the trail, participants get more than a nighttime view of the dunes. Rangers can explore topics ranging from nocturnal wildlife and astronomy to interdune ecology, park history and the Tularosa Basin’s connection to space exploration.

For visitors who arrive thinking of White Sands primarily as a place to climb dunes or go sledding, the program can offer a broader understanding of the landscape. Powers said people are often surprised by the plants and animals that survive there and the depth of the park’s natural and cultural history.

Nightfall also draws attention to something easily overlooked during the day. Light pollution from surrounding communities can be visible from White Sands, providing an opportunity for rangers to discuss the importance of dark skies and the effects of artificial light on the nighttime environment.

Powers has attended about a half-dozen Moonlight Hikes or more, but seeing the park under a full moon has yet to lose its appeal.

“It really never gets old,” Powers said. “It’s one of my favorite programs.”

The Dune Life Nature Trail is rated moderate and requires hikers to travel across soft gypsum sand and climb dunes. Temperatures can drop quickly after sunset, and visitors should bring water, wear appropriate footwear, and carry additional layers.

For Powers, the program is ultimately about giving visitors something that stays with them after they leave the dunes.

“We’re really in the business of making lasting memories of the park,” Powers said.

That goal comes together as the moon rises over the mountains and begins illuminating a landscape most visitors only see during the day.

“Just being on that gypsum sand dune, as the full moon rises over the Sacramento Mountains, and illuminates the sky, is a very special opportunity,” Powers said.

White Sands offers Moonlight Hikes monthly from March through November on nights surrounding the full moon. Tickets are required, with reservations and information about future hikes available through Recreation.gov and the White Sands National Park website at nps.gov/whsa.

In 1983, Atari's El Paso plant loaded truckloads of unsellable cartridges, including the E.T. game, widely rated among the worst ever made, and dumped them in a New Mexico landfill. A layer of concrete went over the top to stop looters. For thirty years, people argued about whether it had actually happened, until a 2014 excavation dug the cartridges back up.

Alamogordo spreads across the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico, the Otero County seat, and it's the most affordable New Mexico town within driving distance of White Sands National Park. Rent averages $902 a month, and the park entrance is about 15 miles southwest on U.S. 70.

The landfill is the least consequential strange thing here. The Trinity test site, where the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945, lies to the north on the missile range. Holloman Air Force Base is next door. The town also claims the world's largest pistachio, which is a sculpture, and which is exactly the kind of civic decision this stretch of desert produces.

Every town on our cheapest-basecamp tally has a story, but few stack them this high. What you came for is 275 square miles of white gypsum, the largest dunefield of its kind on the planet.

What to Expect Visiting Alamogordo, New Mexico

White Sands became a national monument on January 18, 1933, under Herbert Hoover, after decades in which the gypsum was eyed for mining into drywall and medicine, and was redesignated a national park on December 20, 2019. It's the most visited Park Service site in New Mexico, and it sits entirely surrounded by White Sands Missile Range.

Dunes Drive runs eight miles from the visitor center into the heart of the dunefield. The first five miles are paved, and the last three are hard-packed gypsum, which drives more like a beach than a road. Pull-offs, picnic shelters, and the short Interdune Boardwalk are spread along it.

Sledding is the thing to do, and the park is unusually relaxed about it. Gypsum behaves enough like snow that plastic saucers work, and they're sold at the visitor center. More than 800 species survive out here, with yucca and creosote doing the work of holding the dunes in place.

The dunes also hold a record nobody expected. Fossilized human and animal footprints have been found preserved beneath the gypsum, some of the oldest evidence of people in North America, though the sites themselves aren't open to visitors.

Plan Your Visit

Alamogordo sits on U.S. 54 with Las Cruces about an hour and a half southwest over the Organ Mountains and El Paso roughly the same distance south. The park is a straightforward 15-mile run down U.S. 70.

One quirk governs everything: the park and U.S. 70 both close temporarily for missile testing on the surrounding range, sometimes for a couple of hours at a time, and the schedule is posted rather than predictable. Check before you drive out. The park is open daily except Christmas, and summer afternoons on white gypsum are punishing, so aim for sunrise, late afternoon, or one of the ranger-led full-moon walks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. In 1983, the company dumped truckloads of unsold cartridges and equipment into the city landfill and covered them in concrete. An excavation in 2014 recovered them, confirming decades of rumor.

About 15 miles southwest via U.S. 70, roughly 20 minutes. That makes it the closest town of real size to the dunes and the practical place to sleep and eat.

Missile testing. The park is entirely surrounded by White Sands Missile Range, and both the park and the adjacent highway shut for short periods during tests. Closure notices are posted in advance.

Methodology: The editorial experts at Only In Your State identified a leading National Park Service destination in each state, then used data from data.census.gov to determine the most affordable nearby town by median gross rent.