White Sands National Monument in New Mexico

White Sands National Monument in New Mexico

Shady spots are hard to come by in the arid landscape of New Mexico’s White Sands National Monument. These shelters in the rest area provide a bit of relief from the heat, especially in summer, when the sun reflects off the white dunes to create a blinding sweatbox. The rolling dunes aren’t ordinary waves of sand—they’re made of gypsum, a soft, chalky sulfate mineral. It covers 275 square miles of desert here to create the world's largest gypsum dunefield. And it’s not the bleak, sandy wasteland that it may at first appear—it’s teeming with flora and fauna if you know where to look. Aside from the birds and mammals that live here, White Sands is home to a variety of insects, reptiles, and even amphibians.