White Sands has been on our travel wish-list for some time now; I'm happy to report we finally made the trip. A full day's drive each way (about 600 mi) necessitated a 2-night stay, which was in Ruidoso, NM, roughly 65 miles from White Sands.
View Larger Map
Ruidoso is a very nice resort town, but we only saw it driving through, as our stay was focused on spending time in White Sands National Monument.
It was in the low 90s in White Sands the day of our visit, mildly breezy, and the air felt very dry. The sunlight was incredibly bright and intense.
white dunes in every direction. smokey haze from the huge fires to the NW coloring the horizon in this picture
close up view of gypsum sand and some larger grains. The gypsum starts out clear but appears white because of scratching.
visible crust on the sandy surface. Unlike "regular" sand, the gypsum sand was very easy to walk on, it's packed down and has a crust, wewere able to walk flat-footed enough that we didn't sink in much
This is a boardwalk which allows visitors access to an ecologically sensitive area in the gypsum dunes. (Hiking, climbing, etc on the dunes in most of the park is allowed). The walkway is made from recycled / man-made building products, and in combination with the dry air, it loads everyone with an instant static charge. Watch leaning on those bolts on the railing--ZAP! Touch your knee to the aluminium railing support--ZAP! Touch each other--ZAP!! Good idea in theory perhaps, but it has some real world problems for the users.
Fun with shadows on the boardwalk
gypsum sand supports plant life with help from cyanobacteria, which grow in a crusty network on the surface of the sand
we saw quite a variety of plantlife growing on and around the dunes
I believe these pretty pink flowers are centaury
pretty yellow flowers
soaptree yuccas in bloom
Joe got a chance to try the camera on his not-so-favorite new phone
he managed to get a signal but couldn't get a sunset picture sent until later when we got back to our room in Ruidoso
We'd heard sleds and saucers would work for sliding down the dunes, so we packed some along. Turns out they need to be well-waxed so they are slick enough to slide on sand. Ours didn't get waxed and didn't work worth a darn. So Joe pulled me down a dune on the sled (see the trail in the sand) then collapsed, laughing in the pile of sled and saucers. We had fun!
This time of the year White Sands Monument is open until 10 if you are in by sunset (about 8). We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset that was all the more beautiful because of the smokey sky from the fires NW of Albequerque. We hiked around in the twilight and watched darkness fall on our magnificent surroundings. We were impressed at how quickly the temperature fell after the sun went down. Most animal life in White Sands comes out after dark, but of course it is difficult to see any of it because it is...dark! The moon was overhead by sundown and a little larger than half, and we did have flashlights, but it was still pretty dark out there by the time we left!
we stopped on our drive to the monument's exit to take pictures of some beautiful soaptree yucca flowers with my camera's "night snapshot" feature Soaptree yucca plants are quite fascinating and their flower is New Mexico's state flower. The flower stalks are about 10 feet tall
The flowers are incredibly fragrant with the most wonderful scent!! Both Joe and I were overwhelmed by their fragrence, which was unlike anything we'd encountered. Subtle and instantly mesmerizing
incredibly gorgeous, fragrant, sensuous flowers
our route to Ruidoso
It was an incredible trip, so glad we went.
