Wilderness Wandering

2/13/24

Something happened today that I doubt we will ever do again! We spent time in 3 National Parks in 1 day! 

We left Guadalupe Mountains in the early morning, were astounded by the natural entrance and Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns and spent sunset at White Sands National Park!

We arrived in time to get our passport stamped and watch the park movie. 

We wanted to do the 8 mile scenic drive and watch sunset from the sand dunes. 

As we left the visitor center we saw Calypso and two other vehicles with WI license plates and we happened to all be leaving at the same time. So a little Wisconsinite reunion ensued. 

One couple was from Madison and the other from Janesville. Tim commented we should all meet up later for brats and beers, and the Janesville lady lamented that they had just run out of cheese curds. We had some left, but I did not offer to share. 

These white sand dunes are different from most other sand dunes because they are gypsum. The gypsum dunes are cooler and firmer than other kinds of sand. These are the largest gypsum sand dunes in the world. We were told they can be seen from space. 

We drove the scenic loop. The dunes are other worldly. We learned that at least 20 movies have had scenes shot here. The first few miles are paved and then the road becomes very hard packed sand. The dunes toward the front are smaller and they get as tall as 50 feet towards the rear of the park. We climbed some dunes and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset. A man rode past us on a bike.  That would have been fun to do!

It was in the 60s when we arrived at the park and had dropped into the 40s by the time the sun set. 

This is a small park and there is no camping in the park, so we stayed at our first KOA campground in nearby Alamogordo. It was a lovely place and we sure enjoyed our showers!

2/14

We returned to the park about 8 AM. We took our photo with the park sign. White Sands is a newer National Park and some of the signs still said National Monument. 

 There was a small road grader on the scenic drive scraping the sand that had accumulated over night back to the side of the road. 

Several fun facts about the park: The dunes move quite a bit! It can make it difficult for the plant life. Some plants grow extremely long trunks or stems  to get through the sand dunes and then the dunes move and there is nothing to support the super long stem and they break off. Also, much of the animal life has evolved to be lighter so they are more camouflaged against the sand. Most of the creatures that live here are nocturnal and the only evidence we can see is their footprints or trails they leave behind. 

We hiked the 1 mile Dune Life Trail. 

Since the footprints get erased by rain and wind and the dunes are continuously moving, the trails are marked by posts and you navigate the trails by  looking for the posts. Since the gypsum sand packs well, it was easier to walk these dunes than other sand dunes we’ve been on. 

We found White Sands to be a really unique park and enjoyed the visit!