Sand Sledding on White Dunes

Thursday, April 28th – Las Cruces, New Mexico & White Dunes National Park – Day 77 

We are trying to squeeze in three different destinations today. We received recommendations from the camp host yesterday, she recommended: the slot canyon – a 2 km out and back hike, Dripping Falls, a 3 mile out and back trail and visiting White Sands National Park. In White Sands National Park, you can take a sled and slide down the dunes. We picked up our red, plastic, circular sleds from the Ranger’s station along with a block of wax. We learned later they charge $26 for a sled at the Visitor’s Centre. 

 We started with the Slot Canyon. The kids looked good in their junior ranger vests holding walking sticks. John wanted to turn around to get his Tigey stuffie so we turned around. He didn’t grab it but decided to grab a Minions lunch box instead and then wanted to turn around again. A bad sign at the beginning of the walk. 

 A sandy, scrubbie path led to the entrance of the canyon and quickly it got interesting. The canyon kept getting narrower and narrower while the top the walls towered overhead. Every once and a while you’d climb up rocks. It was a fun hike. We reached the top of the canyon, had a quick break and decided to go down the same way again. The energy was good until John wanted to be carried with 20 m left in the hike. 

 We went through the downtown of Las Cruces and stopped at the free science museum. The kids had a blast. The dinosaur prints that were saved from our hike yesterday were on display. There was a model diamondback rattlesnake and its skeleton beside it which was interesting. In aquariums they had turtles, frogs, snakes and fish. Also, a huge purple geode was on display. John spent all his time building a model satellite from pieces provided. 

 We walked along and went into a bookstore to purchase some books for the kids. I love visiting a bookstore. The books were very reasonably priced, and all the kids got one. Hunger struck and we had plans to go to the Golden Corral buffet. I’d been thinking about the need to get an oil change for a while now. I dropped them off and went to find someone. The oil change took a while delaying our next step. 

 We raced off in the car to the Organ Mountains to hike the Dripping Springs trail. When we arrived, there was a visitor centre with a Ranger present to provide maps, junior ranger books and sage advice. He said that “for his first two children he would bring them hiking all the time and they weren’t enthusiastic. With his third, he would give her candy on the trail, and she was happy to hike all day.” I now have a pack of candy in my backpack to give this a try. We worked through the junior ranger packages briefly, but time was short, and we wanted to get to the White Sands National Park before the visitor centre closed. Gen took some pictures and we left. 

 White Sands National Park was another hour drive away through mountains and across a desert before we caught a glimpse of bright white dunes. We stopped at the visitor centre for the junior ranger packages and passport stamps. We then proceeded to take the 20-minute drive out into the dunes. When we arrived, we stopped near a steep slope with a picnic table available. There were miles of bright white sand; dunes stretched to the mountains in the distance. I waxed the sleds and off we went. 

 The sledding was nothing compared to snow. Gen, Aisling, Charlotte, and John got some speed up. I had to drag my sorry self through the sand with only occasional bits of speed. We sledded for a while but walking up is terrible; every step pushes through soft sand getting you nowhere. We made sandcastles, buried Aisling and Charlotte in the sand, and sun tanned. We decided to wait until sunset. To fill the time, we moved spots to see what else there was. The sunset behind the mountains was beautiful. 

 On the way home I was hungry. Gen found a fantastic little Mexican restaurant near the park. There were a few families still enjoying the evening. I ordered a few tacos and nachos to go. When we got back to the trailer, the kids woke up and they wanted to eat my food. It was a tasty snack. They provided a nice hot salsa that had me in tears off the first bite. Bedtime routines and off to sleep.