Photo Gallery: White Sands National Monument

The otherworldly terrain of the White Sands National Monument could hardly be more different from the pine forests of Ruidoso, only 90 minutes away. A loop drive starts in a creamy landscape dotted with scrub brush, which becomes increasingly desolate and white as you reach the heart of the park.

Here, even the road turns pale, and spectacular gleaming dunes of pure gypsum sand extend for miles toward mountains on the horizon. Excerpted from the November 2013 Hideaway Report.