​You’ll get sand everywhere.
For all of eternity.
It’s worth it.
Just go.

Our trip started with speeding ticket. Out in the middle of seemingly nowhere when I was legit trying to follow the speed limit. Somehow, I missed a sign. Herc was NOT pleased with the cop approaching my window. All sorts of ferocious woofs and growls coming from the peanut gallery: "Who the heck do you think you are trying to give things to my mom?! Did I say you could approach the vehicle?? Scram! Skedaddle!" 

Beyond that little incident and the fact the Cool Whip was appalled that she had to carry a pack, we had a wonderful adventure.  White Sands National Monument is a beautiful dog friendly area to explore.
 
White Sands Monument is just outside Alamogordo and the Holloman Air Force Base. It is about six hours from Phoenix. I considered adding Organ Mountains to our trip, but I opted for City of Rocks State Park. But whether you add more pit stops or not, this unique desert spot is worth the trip.
 
The dunes are made of white gypsum, a fair bit different from the classic brown sand of say Great Sand Dunes National Park. Sunrise and sunset are particularly good times to see the dune as they take on the colors of the sky.
 
Activities at White Sands include the following and more:

• Hiking – Dune Life Nature Trail, Playa Trail, Interdune Boardwalk, Alkali Flat Trail, Backcountry Camping Trail
• Sand Sledding – Bring your plastic snow saucer or purchase one at the visitor center
• Picnicking – There are shaded tables and grills with nearby restrooms in the parking areas
• Backcountry Camping – There are no drive-up sites or rv camping options, but you can still spend a night in a tent

Visiting White Sands in February treated us to minimal people and great weather. But, like planning a backpacking trip at Petrified Forest National Park, you’ll want to keep an eye on wind speed and temperature. There will almost always be wind. 10-15 mph is normal, but use caution when speeds hit 25 mph or greater.
 
The temperature at White Sands can also get a little extreme. Summer temps average 95 during the day and 55 at night. Winter cools down to 60 as a high and lows down to 23. 

And yes, be sure to check for any planned missile range testing. White Sands National Monument is surrounded by White Sands Missile Range.  Missile range tests occur about twice a week. The monument and part of highway US 70 may be closed for an hour or two during this time.

Camping at White Sands requires a permit. You cannot make a reservation or acquire a permit for a White Sands backcountry campsite until the morning of your overnight adventure. Verify hours of operation before you plan to arrive, then stop at the Visitor Center  to obtain your permit.
 
Rangers assign the 10 available camping spots on a first-come-first-served basis. Camping fees are $3.00 per person aged 16+ and $1.50 for those 15 and younger. You’ll pay this fee AND the general entrance fee (waived if you have the national park pass) at the fee station.
 
You must leave your site by 1:00 pm the next day and you must request a new permit in person if you wish to stay another night. 

Yep, you gotta scoop ALL the poop. Always practice Leave No Trace principle. Check with a park ranger at the Visitor Center for a Wag Bag if you didn’t bring your own waste disposal container. Or, as one crafty ranger recommended to me, you can use the bags they provide at the pest waste stations around the park (one of which happens to be located right in front of the visitor center). These pet waste bags are quite large and sturdy, by poop bag standards, not skimpy ones that tear if you pick up more than one poop nugget.

You checked the weather, acquired a permit, loaded up on poop bags, took one last potty break at the toilets by the trailhead parking lot, and now you’re ready to head out on your adventure—woohoo!
 
The backcountry camping trail is a 2-mile lollipop loop that goes up, over, down, and around many dunes. With the ever-changing nature of the dunes, there is no regular trail on the ground you’ll follow. Instead, you follow orange trail markers staked into the ground.
 
Once you reach your first marker on the trail, do not continue moving forward until you see the next marker. Continue this way for the remainder of the backcountry trail. Remember, you’re in a giant sandbox with no other landmarks to guide you, so it’s easy to become disoriented and lose track of your direction.

​As you’re cruising along the trail, you’ll eventually see the campsites noted on the trail markers. Each campsite is in an open valley among the dunes. Once you find your campsite number on a trail marker, look for another marker at the base of the dunes. This is where you’ll set up camp, keeping your tent within five feet of that stake on the valley floor. 

ALWAYS keep your dog leashed while visiting White Sand National Monument, even at the backcountry site. There are plenty of lizards and other animals about that you don’t want your dog to disturb, plus you need to be able to find their poop to pack it out.
 
What to bring:

• Water. There is NO water out in the dunes. Not even a stream. Make sure you bring plenty for your and your dog. Even if the temps are cool, it takes some effort hiking across the dunes.
• Poop bags. Yup, I’m mentioning them again. Don’t be THAT person leaving poo around for others to stumble upon. Don’t bury it either. With all the wind blowing things around, it will resurface in no time.
• Warm gear. The wind can cool you down a lot during the day and it gets quite a bit cooler at night. Make sure your pup is comfortable. Bring a warm coat and a blanket or sleeping bag for your pup to snuggle into at night. Other than during our hike out to the campsite (mid-afternoon in February), Cool Whip and Hercules wore their fleece jackets the entire time.

 
Now get on out there and have some fun!

What do you do when it starts pouring rain right after you pull into your campsite?

​Like your-tent-isn’t-even-set-up-just-pulled-in.

You turn your vehicle into your tent. Redistribute a few gear bags; blow up some sleeping pads and spread out sleeping bags; kick back and relax.

Now what? What is the first thing you do the moment you have a millisecond of unoccupied time?
Did you just reach for your phone?

In any moment of un-critically-occupied time, we seem to grab our phones. Drinking coffee. Waiting in the checkout line. Sitting at a stoplight. Stuck in your vehicle during an unexpected downpour.

I check for notifications and open my social media accounts. I don’t even realize I’m doing it until I’m already scrolling through photos, double-tapping at random.

And when I’m stuck in my car during an unexpected downpour with no cell service… I think about notifications I might be missing.

But WHY?!? What could be so insanely critical that I had to know about it right that instant?
​
Nothing. Especially nothing I was going to find on social media.

So, I took the forced downtime to do anything but browse social media or actively use my phone with my hands. I journaled. Napped. Read. Listened to downloaded podcasts. And, ironically, this is when I came across How to Unplug with Danny Kim, episode 100 from Wild Ideas Worth Living. It covered exactly what had been running through my brain a couple of hours earlier: Do we need to unplug, and, if so, how can we?

Honestly, to answer that, I’d just be repeating what I heard on that podcast, so go give it a listen for yourself.

Trust me, it’s worth listening to. Because once the sun did come back out and I inadvertently found cell service while hiking, I resisted the urge to jump on Insta. I heard a few notification dings, turned my phone on silent, and challenged myself to only use my phone for pictures until I left City of Rocks the next day.

And I succeeded. Partially because I still didn’t have cell service throughout most of the park, but also because I wanted to change my relationship with social media:

Less shallow gratification seeking.
More fun sharing.
​
Less comparison.
More inspiration.

City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico is the type of place that blows my mind—small but mighty. A seemingly random, relatively small space that stands out in stark contrast to the surrounding landscape.
​
You’ll roll into the area on some quiet highways and paved roads, passing Faywood Hot Springs, a small resort with—yes, you guessed it—hot springs. City of Rocks doesn’t even appear until you’re practically right at the front entrance of this massive cluster of giant boulders melting into each other. This monolithic structure is volcanic rock. Wind and water etched the formation over time, leaving smooth, rounded surfaces.

As always, I recommend making the visitor center your first stop. The rangers on duty can give you up-to-the-minute details along with the usual maps and souvenirs. I let them know I had two dogs and asked if there was anything I should be aware of aside from keeping them on leash throughout the campground.

They let me know they had spotted a mountain lion nearby the day prior and that elk and bear were in the area, so I should keep an extra close eye on my pets.

​Of course, when they met Cool Whip and Herc later they realized we didn’t have quite as much to worry about than if they’d been small, snack-sized dogs. ;)

You can’t pick a bad spot in this park, but our friendly ranger did offer a couple of recommendations to help us stay out the wind that day. Just one of the many reasons to make time to talk with the local rangers. It’s their job to know these parks, so they can provide information on things you didn’t even think to consider.

​Campsites are $10.00 per night. You can make reservations for some campsites but others are first-come-first-served only. I wasn’t visiting during peak season and I didn’t need electrical hook-ups, so I relied on the FCFS options. Each site has a picnic table and campfire ring. There are garbage cans tucked throughout the campground as well as several pit toilets. The visitor center also has flush toilets and showers if you want to feel fancy.

Once the aforementioned rain cleared, we scurried all over the park. The whole place is dog-friendly aside from inside the buildings. There are trails to hike but we mostly stuck to scrambling around on the boulders because there seemed to be endless nooks and crannies to explore.
​
Whether this is a destination or a pitstop on a larger adventure, I highly recommend it. We spent one night here after visiting White Sands National Monument and I’ll definitely stop again if I’m cruising through southern New Mexico. 

For a long time New Mexico was simply a state I had to pass through going to and from Minnesota/Arizona. It did not impress me. Sure, there were a few nice views from I-40 on the western side of the state, but nothing that really called to me to explore. I’d also experienced some pretty freaky weather cruising across the state: sudden snow, torrential rains and wind, and the thickest fog I’ve ever driven through. Oye. This latest trip through, however, changed the vibe for me. 

​At our last gas station stop in Arizona I opened Google Maps and scanned New Mexico for traces of green within an inch of I-40 (meaning park or forest areas where we wouldn’t have to detour too far off our route). All sorts of options showed up.