Hey, everybody. It's Glenn with the Cactus Atlas
coming at you from White Sands National Park in New Mexico.
Or is it White Sands National Monument? I'm not quite sure.
Let's go inside here in the visitor center and find out.
[Amy] White Sands was designated a national monument in 1933 by Herbert Hoover
and quite recently in 2019 was established as a national park.
Since then the park has remained incredibly popular amongst visitors.
34,000 people visited in the first year and today an estimated 600,000 people visit
to gaze at the rolling dunes of gorgeous white sand.
In addition to being popular with tourists the location has been featured
in numerous films and television.
You may have seen the park in such films as the Transformer movies
as well as 1975's film, The Man Who Fell To Earth with David Bowie..
Due to the proximity to White Sands Missile Range guests of the park are advised to check online for closures.
The visitor center and gift shops still remain open during testing,
however, the only road onto the dunes field may close for up to three hours.
Alright, so here at White Sands you can actually rent or buy sleds.
If you return it, they'll buy it back for you for a couple bucks basically.
It's only $15 so I figured what the heck and I also got some wax
to rub on the bottom of the sled because that's supposed to help you
go down the dunes a lot faster so
we're going sledding today in the desert.
Ah! Look at that.
We actually drove from Carlsbad today down 82 through these mountains.
Came down here and we are now inside the White Sands National Park.
I think we're right here. It still says national monument but there's the missile range
and somewhere, like, over here was Pistachioland
which you may have seen on one of our previous road trip videos.
With all the sunburns I end up getting on this channel...
came out here in the afternoon.
I think they were doing missile tests this morning, you know, and I didn't want to come out
here then because you can't come until like 9 00 a.m.
So got here. It's about between three and four
and I'm gonna go put on some sunblock and then start exploring the park
and I'm gonna try to catch a sunset here as well as some good sledding opportunities
so I'm going to go back into the visitor center, talk to some rangers and find out what's up.
Maybe get a map and see where the best sledding is.
Alrighty, we're in White Sands National Park.
We have gone through the fee area.
I have flashed my national parks pass and got some more miles against that.
It has more than paid for itself since I bought it less than a year ago.
Many times over.
You're starting to see dunes here off to the left.
I talked to the ranger at the fee station. I got a map. I don't know much about this park.
I basically asked her where's a good sunset opportunity and she said take your pick.
Pretty much anywhere you want to go.
Just depends on how clear it is and all that but she said, you know,
you won't be disappointed in most spots.
I also asked her where the biggest dunes are for sledding because,
that's probably the thing I'm most excited about is the sledding
and she said about eight miles back somewhere in here
so I'm just driving around and exploring.
It's only four o'clock and they close at 9 00 p.m
and it's way too hot right now and way too exposed to go out way out there I think just yet.
I'm gonna wait a while but we'll explore some of the park and see what there's to see before
we get to the grand finale.
Where you hopefully don't see Glenn here spraying an ankle or do something stupid
on the sled. [Music]
This is one of the first stops that I encountered after I went through the fee station.
Right back there are the dunes so according to that sign we're on the edge of the dunes
where we will have the best opportunity to see wildlife
but I guarantee you at this time of day I don't expect to see anything,
It's way too hot and if I look pale, it's because i slathered on the sunblock.
I'm not messing around today. Mm-mmm.
Okay, let's start this. This is only a mile long.
It's just our first glimpse at this area so we're not going to
spend too much time here but I want to just kill some time
to let the sun go down a bit before I really head out into the dunes
and look for a proper sledding place.
Oh my god. I just had a fright.
Right when I turned off the camera, I heard a loud explosion.
The air force base or the missile range is up that way.
I saw some fighter jets. I felt the ground rumble I swear. [Laughter]
I'm filming now just in case it happens again so you can hear it.
Whoo! That gave me a... [sonic boom]
[rumbling]
You hear that?
Look at that. Can you see up there?
It's a fighter jet.
Probably from the nearby...
nearby air force base.
Holloman Air Force base, I assume it's pronounced.
[noise from airplane]
That's cool... and noisy.
This is spectacular. Look at how white this sand is.
They named this park really well, didn't they? [Laughter]
[Music]
Woo doggy!
It's quiet now. I don't hear any fighter jets or explosions
but boy is it bright and hot.
Don't forget your sunglasses when you come here.
Phew!
Don't forget water either.
Alright, I'm tired..
Running up and down these sand dunes.
Trying to do a better job of staying in shape here.
This is awesome but yeah it's hot.
You're gonna hear me complain a lot about that today. Heh.
I'm gonna be putting on sunblock every 20 minutes at this rate. Phew.
So to hopefully kill a little bit of time I found this area here called the Interdune Sandwalk.
So this looks rather harmless but it is hot still. [Laughter]
I am sweating.
It's a little humid over here too. More humid than where I'm from.
so that's what's really killing me here.
[Music]
What we're looking at here are gypsum sand dunes. That's where they get their white color.
It's a very rare thing on this planet
and in fact White Sands is the largest gypsum sand dunes in the entire world.
It's so large that astronauts can actually see it from outer space.
[Music]
Alright, so this little boardwalk was nice.
I mean, it's very short so if you're coming out here and you're not too adventurous
this would be one of the stops that I think you'd want to want to do while you're here.
It only took me like two to three minutes to walk from the parking lot up here
and I didn't get any sand in my shoes.
Alright, the pavement ended. Now we are driving on sand.
It's not deep sand. It's very thin. Pretty smooth road.
I am obviously not in a four-wheel drive vehicle but no fear.
I see plenty of people driving in their tiny cars just like me.
It's a lot more dusty than I thought over here...
the gypsum sand. It really kicks up dust if you see the car in front of me.
Um... but...
Ah! This is really starting to look spectacular out here.
Alright, I'm on the back side of the loop that goes through here.
I think this is as far back as the road goes.
You can see behind me here...
there's some sizable sand dunes over this way.
I'm trying to do a scouting mission here to find
the best possible place to sled.
I want to do it right.
A lot of people just kind of sled right by the parking lots.
I got to do better than that.
[Music]
One thing that I kind of like here is there's no off-roading.
You can't do four-wheeling and stuff like that.
I think that looks fun. I've never tried it.
But, you know, I'm thinking, like, the Imperial Sand Dunes and some other dunes...
for us that like to head out on foot, you know, sometimes it's hard and dangerous to do that
around certain dunes so I always appreciate places like this
where you can just get that pristine quiet
and a lot of moments to yourself.
Okay, so I'm heading back towards the car.
I actually see some people beyond the next sand dune or two that were parked right next to me so
pretty much have to go a couple sand dunes that way to get back
to the car but the point i want to try to make to you is just look around.
I mean, you have no idea that there's a road over there with cars parked.
So I could see this being a very risky place to hike if you're not careful
and don't know what you're doing.
Alright, so, of course, by making that comment
I'm maybe insinuating that I know what I'm doing.
I really don't.
Alright, I've waited an hour or so and I've got my sled here.
I am geared up. Got tripods, cameras, everything I could need
and I'm gonna go seek out my sand dune.
I wonder if on the way back I can just sled down the dunes to save the walking.
You probably want to be careful too because this ground here is really hard that I'm walking on.
Now the sand dunes aren't but man if you get going down that hill and you crash into this stuff...
good luck.
Ah! The sun is down far enough that it blocks the sun and look how pretty this landscape looks now.
Oh yes.
[whispers] And there's nobody over here.
[Music]
Okay, I found my dune.
I've got the wax. [Music]
You guys remember Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase?
Having flashbacks to that right now. [Laughter]
This is a new food preservative I was uh... [Music]
coming up with my job. Should provide just the right amount of lubricant.
Hopefully I don't kill myself.
[Music]
Woo-hoo-hoo-hooo!
[Music]
Whoa! Woo-hoo-hoo-hooo! Whoa!
[spitting] Oh [bleep]!
Oof!
[Music]
Whooop! Not much of an echo but White Sands New Mexico at sunset. Yee-haw.
We came. We saw a sunset and we sled. I conquered White Sands National Park
and maybe one day you will too.
[Music]