White Sands National Monument

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White Sands is truly one of the worlds greatest and rarest of natural wonders. The park's 275 square miles of dazzling white gypsum dunes can be seen from miles up into the Sacramento Mountains and the Jefferson National Forest. As we drove down the valley leaving the snow-covered town of Cloudcroft at 6200 feet, in the distance it looked as if another great snow had fallen on the Chihuahuan Desert some 20+ miles away. Unlike many of the parks we've visited, White Sands is dog friendly and the dunes are open for exploration and fun. There are very few restrictions on where you can wander and if you do get disoriented, you can always follow your foot prints back. It was a warm and sunny (78 degree) day when Mi Hyon, Maggie and I wandered into the snow-white dunes, and I have to admit it felt a little odd not being cold. My mind wanted the drifts to be snow, while still knowing they are not. The park even uses snow plows to keep the road clear further giving the appearance of snow. The dunes consist of gypsum which compresses well under foot making it far easier to walk on it than sand dunes...and it does not fill your shoes like sand does. Miss Maggie has spend the past couple weeks wandering the dusty brown desert filled with stickers and thorns so the cool sand of the dunes was a welcome relief for her. We were kind of hoping the white gypsum might cover some of brown dust she's currently covered in, not sure whether that happened or not, but at least she didn't get any dirtier. The changing environment during the trip from Carlsbad was amazing, we started in flat grasslands filled with oil wells, then desert mountains, into the a National Forest with roadside streams and snow covered slopes, back to desert, then into the white sands. All the changing temperatures, colors, and textures boggled the mind. It was a little like going through a seasonal time travel machine all in a 3 hour period. On Sunday, we'll go from a bright sunny white experience to the cool underground world of Carlsbad Caverns.

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Photos

Snow white drift along road
One of the untouched drifts along the road.

Road Down from Forest
Distant view of the White Sands far off in the distance.

Sands Glow in the Distance
We're still about 10 miles away.

Looking up to Sacramento Mtns
Coming here we looked down from the mountain range in the background.

Bright sun
It got to almost 80