Follow Along our Travels!

Yes, the title is correct. We attempted to do 5 National Parks in a 5 day road trip — thus covering 3 states (Texas, New Mexico and Arizona), two time zones and temperatures that went from 105 degrees to snowing. I would say we (mostly) succeeded in this attempt to see and experience Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, White Sands National Park and Saguaro National Park.

I say mostly because I’m not sure I’d actually count that we “did” Guadalupe Mountains since we walked into the visitor center and that was the extent of our Guadalupe Mountains experience. In our defense, it was 40 degrees out, raining and you couldn’t actually see the mountains this national park highlights. In hindsight, I think we could have/should have added an extra day to the trip to really do all of these parks (even if weather had cooperated it would have been nice to have a one day buffer).

However, for the most part, these parks are great one day exploration parks. The one exception to that is Big Bend National Park. I think you could easily spend 2-3 days here. For the other ones, one day is more than enough which makes this itinerary pretty perfect!

A (fun) challenge on this trip and with these specific parks is that they are not located near any large city. They are mostly near very small towns and thus the accommodation options aren’t plentiful. The fun part about this is that is allows for some more adventurous options. For example, we stayed in a pretty rustic teepee (but it had a bed!) and a very well appointed covered wagon (it had a bathroom and shower!).

Another thing to note on this trip and itinerary is it requires a lot of driving! Turns out the desert southwest is vast and sprawling. It takes a lot of hours to get from one place to another so download your favorite podcast, audio book or music and be prepared to spend some time on the road.

All in all, a great trip! As always, there are some things I would do differently and definitely some things worth highlighting.

Highlights from Desert Southwest Road Trip:

• National Parks! Each National Park we visit has its own vibe and highlight so here are my highlights for each one…
  • Big Bend National Park – The highlight for me was the giant canyon walls that you walk among and through. They are really impressive and make you feel very small in the landscape. This vantage point can be found at both the Window Trail in the Chisos Mountains area and the Santa Elena Trail that is right along the US/Mexico border and the Rio Grand. My husband’s highlight was the Lost Mine Trail which doesn’t take you to a lost mine but does take you to some boulder peaks and offers fantastic views of the entire park. Overall, I think this park exceeded my expectations in that I expected the desert and got canyons that were as large and impressive as any I’ve seen at Zion.
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park – The caverns. Obviously. Or maybe not so obvious if you have not been here. These caverns are the largest I’ve ever been in. We did the self-guided tour and still managed to walk around 5 miles (note: there are ways to shorten this and most of it is ADA compliant). The cavern is that big and there was not a single moment while in there that I wasn’t in awe of the stalagmites, stalactites, and my personal favorite flowstone. We only did the cavern and the museum and that took us around 3 hours.
  • White Sands National Park – The sand dunes are otherworldly. I had seen pictures on Instagram but it doesn’t even do it justice. We did the Alkaline Flats trail near the end of the day and we were the only people out there after about a 10 minute walk. This walk is not easy. You are trekking over slippery sand with winds whipping (more on that later) but it is absolutely worth it to experience the expansiveness of the dunes and see the landscape change as the sun moves towards the mountains. I also highly recommend sledding on the sand if you are physically able to do so! It is like sledding on snow but with sand. We had a great time! You can rent the sleds at the visitor center.
  • Saguaro National Park – If I’m being honest, there were not a whole lot of highlights here for me. There is an impressive concentration of saguaro cacti and I love that the park goes from desert to pines, but overall I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about any particular part of this park … maybe it is because I live in a desert and we just spent 4 days driving through the desert? I can see if I was from another area of the country or the world how this would be unique.
• The Southwest/Mexican Food! The best part about staying in small towns in the southwest is the Mexican food is legit and delicious! It is different than the Mexican food I grew up with, but everywhere we went, it was very tasty. I had posole in Carlsbad, NM that tasted just like the posole from Mexico City. And in Las Cruces we had the best breakfast. Fun fact: My grandma is from Las Cruces so we got to see where she grew up too!
• Seeing the Milky Way: The best part about parks in the middle of nowhere and near no big cities is the stargazing! Our best stargazing was done in Terlingua at the teepee near Big Bend NP. This is a dark sky park, but you don’t have to stay in it to experience the dark sky. The tiny town around it contributes little to no light pollution and so we woke up to the milky way both mornings. The tepee was a true experience too. Very small and rustic so if you plan on booking it, make sure you read what it entails, but there is a bed, fridge and plugs for electronics. It was perfect for two people.

Tips about This Itinerary/Trip and Things I’d Change:

• I would add one more day to this itinerary to give the best chance at seeing and experiencing all 5 parks. As I mentioned, we had bad weather for the Guadalupe Mountains day. Luckily, this park is very close to Carlsbad Caverns we were able to audible and go to the Caverns a day earlier than planned. This gave us more time at White Sands which I’m so grateful for! But the bottom line is that even if we got to do Guadalupe Mountains, everything after that (Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands) would have been on a tight timeline so one more day would have been nice.
• Check the weather and prepare for it! We started the trip hiking in 95 degree heat and by the time we got to New Mexico it was 40 degrees with sleet, rain and snow. Then we were back in the heat for the last day. The point being that each park has its own ecosystem so make sure to account for the changes even though you are in the desert the whole time.
• The wind!! – While driving to White Sands National Park, there are multiple signs warning of dust storms and what to do during them. This should have been a major clue to us to check the wind weather as well as the normal weather while in White Sands. While our normal weather was mostly clear skies, the wind picked up and we had gusts up to 30mph which meant tiny particles of gypsum peppering us in the face while we were trying to walk the dunes. We took this in stride as part of the experience but it definitely shortened our hike that afternoon. So the tip is to check with wind weather and plan around that!
• For Carlsbad Caverns, we ended up going later in the afternoon rather than the morning when we were supposed to. They allow groups of people into the caves until around 2:30pm but the cave doesn’t close until 4:45pm. This allowed us to visit the cavern with fewer people since there weren’t new groups after 2:30pm but you still have a couple hours to explore. Since the cavern only has a loop or two to do, having fewer people around to view it with was wonderful. I would recommending doing an afternoon tour if possible!
• We took this trip in Spring 2025 and there were a lot of changes to the National Park system right before this trip. We had tours booked that ended up being canceled (thanks, DOGE) and a lot of the visitor centers/facilities were minimally staffed or not staffed at all. Make sure you check your reservations carefully and understand what is open/not open during this transition time. Also luckily these parks are not super crowded but plan on longer wait times at the kiosks to get in.