Stop #12: Lake Holloman, Holloman Air Force Base, NM
- Denisse Storti
- Jun 6, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 31, 2023
One place we were really looking forward to visiting in New Mexico was White Sands National Monument. After boondocking in Carlsbad for 2 nights we headed to Lake Holloman Dispersed Camping to boondock for another 2. We chose Lake Holloman due to its proximity to White Sands. We arrived early in the afternoon and while we knew big rigs camp at this location, we were a bit intimidated by the narrow gate we had to go through to reach the camping area. I got out to spot (we did learn our lesson!) and we managed to get through without a scratch. We found a prime spot in front of the lake, facing west - because we love our sunsets! There was plenty of space at that time but we noticed that this location does fill up towards the end of the day. So, same as with Sunset Reef in Carlsbad, make sure not to arrive too late in the day if you plan to stay here, to ensure you get a good spot.
While beautiful, the lake itself is questionable and certainly not for swimming in or practicing any water sports. It's a waste water evaporation pond and some people claim it sometimes smells. However, we lucked out because we didn’t get any weird odors during our stay. Phew! If staying here, keep in mind that this lake is also near the Holloman Air Force and they do frequent missile tests. As we were setting up we got scared to death by two super loud missile that made everything around us shake. While we knew about these tests it completely caught us by surprise. Test days are usually posted online and we hadn’t seen anything for that day.
Having recovered and after setting up, we decided to drive the loop at White Sands and planned to explore by foot and do some sledding on the following day. As you drive into the park you are immediately taken aback by the gypsum sand dunes. The scenery was so peaceful, beautiful, and unlike anything we've ever seen. We drove around a bit and couldn’t resist not getting out of the car to see it all up close. We parked, took off our shoes and climbed up the nearest dune and were amazed by how soft and cool the sand felt under our feet. We walked a little bit in and as we did, a couple that was walking towards us offered us their sled which made our kids day! What was to be a drive by, turned into a full blown experience. The kids did some sledding, we all had fun jumping off the dunes, and then stayed for the sunset and WOW... it was breathtaking! Make sure you stay for sunset hour at least once, if you plan a visit.
The next day, we started our day visiting the Museum of Space History in nearby Alamogordo, which is also where Ham, the first ape to go to space, is buried. The Museum was under construction but still had plenty to see and learn about the history of space exploration. That afternoon we returned to White Sands stopping first at the Visitor Center to get Junior Ranger booklets and badges. The kids completed these while Paul napped in the car (they take a while, lol) and then got sworn in (while they had badges from other parks but had not been sworn in) at the gift shop along with other kids which was fun to see.
Once back at the dunes, we jumped, sledded, surfed, relaxed and soaked in all the beautiful views of this unique landscape. The kids didn’t want to leave (again!). We walked a bit further out this time around, towards bigger dunes, and let the kids play for hours. Needless to say they left with a good amount of sand in their heads and pockets (we used our leaf blower to help get some of that out!).
The park was a lot more crowded on this day as it was the weekend (the Saturday' before Easter) with tons of families gathering in the picnic areas but since it's very large, we were able to walk towards areas that we had to ourselves. But if you'd like to avoid crowds do plan your visit during the week. Note that sleds are available for sale at the gift shop: new sleds are $25, used ones are $20, and wax is $3. When leaving the park we paid it forward and gifted our sled to another family to enjoy.
That evening, we chose to see the sunset from our campground so we drove back just in time for that. This was our last night in New Mexico. The following day, we packed, hitched our truck, and headed out towards Arizona. Once again I got out of the truck to spot as we exited the campground gate, and as the truck went over the cattle guard I heard the undeniable sound of a tire puncture. :( Paul pulled over to the side after exiting and there we confirmed that our truck had a flat. It was a bummer as this added at least another hour to our travel day, but we were glad we caught it right away instead of noticing while already on the road. That's RV life! It's filled with unexpected challenges (big and small), but we are learning to roll with it (literally and figuratively). :)
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