10/7/2010 White Sands National Monument

White Sand. Tons and tons of it. As far as we could see at some points. Piled so high we couldn’t see over it.
Today we went to the White Sands National Monument that is just seven miles down the road from Holloman Air Force Base where we’re staying.

We went inside the Visitors Center in hopes of going through the museum or at the very least watching the movie most National Monuments or Parks show about the attraction. Only the gift shop was open as the museum and everything else is under renovation.

We drove a half mile into the park and bought his America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass
Senior Pass

This $10.00 pass now gives us access to National Parks and Monuments with no admittance fee. If we camp in a National Park, half price! Its so nice being married to an old person to someone who has reached that magical age of 62! Age does have it perks! I’m just glad they’re HIS perks!
When we drove deeper into the park it looked like snow off in the distance.

We stopped at the first trail we came to and decided to take the one mile hike. We met a very nice couple from Kentucky, Buddy and Carolyn, in the parking lot and we struck up a conversation with them. (oh geez, I’m writing this a few days later, I hope I remembered their names correctly) They hope to full time RV one day and I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t meet them again somewhere along the way.
Now let me tell you something right here and now! I don’t care if it is October, when you are walking in the desert its HOT!

To get up to the trail we had to climb nearly straight up the side of sizable sand dune.
When we got up to the top this is what we saw.




Bob at the edge of the sand dune, that’s our truck in the background in the parking area.

We followed signs like this all through the nature trail.

We passed some snow sand angels on the way.

Surprisingly, as hot as the temperature was and as blazing as the sun was,,,,the sand was very, very cool. Maybe because its “gypsum sand”. You see, unlike sand that you and I know, like at the beach, this isn’t quartz based sand. Gypsum doesn’t convert the sun’s energy into heat so therefore barefootin’ in even the hottest months of the year is not a problem. In fact, the sand is so cool that families come here to go sand sledding. We saw a few today that were here for this purpose.


Footprints.

I do not wear pointy toed sneakers so I don’t know why my footprints come out like this. Bob’s footprint is on the left, mine on the right.

Lots of Yucca plants here.

The creatures that live in the White Sands have had to adapt over the years to survive their surroundings. Here is a Bleached Earless Lizard.

I don’t know how Bob even saw this thing, I walked right past it.

Besides these lizards the creatures of White Sands include foxes, pocket mice, snakes, owls, bunny rabbits, jack rabbits, and several species of birds. Oh, and ants, I saw ants. Red ones.
This is called a inter-dunal area that fills during a heavy rain and therefore allows grasses and shrubs to grow that feed the creature of the sands.

Sand….everywhere!

One of the plants that grows here in the “sands”. Of course we’re here after the flowering season but I’m betting when this area is in bloom its just beautiful.

LaVon,,,,this is for you, think of it as a work in progress, after all, it certainly looks like its dying.

Ahhh,,,Bob found another lizard.

Sand, mountain, cloud, sky.

Look at these next pictures. What do you see?

Some kind of bush?


A shrub of some type?

If you guessed either one of those you’d be wrong! These are ….. ready for this???? Treetops! Yes, you are seeing the uppermost branches of Cottonwood trees! The rest of the trees are covered by sand dune. As long as the uppermost branches stay exposed the trees will survive. You see, a month from now the trees could be totally exposed again because the wind will come and move the sand and this particular dune will disappear and will form elsewhere. The landscape is constantly changing here.
We finished the mile long hike and as soon as we got back to the truck Bob sucked down a beer in record time and I finished off a Pepsi in one gulp. Did we take water with us on our hike through the desert sands? Noooooo.
We got back on the road to finish off the eight mile loop. Looks like freshly fallen snow doesn’t it?

We’re off the blacktopped road here, it's just packed sand. The “sandplow” just came through to move the sand back to the road sides.


Scenes from the park.



The sand plow I told you about.

This man certainly has job security, the roads have to be cleared everyday!


I still have hard time wrapping my mind around that this is sand and not snow!

We pulled over and climbed to the top of one of the sand dunes. What a sight to behold!


Bob really, really, looks tan here!

In fact, considering the position of the sun when he snapped this pic I don’t think I can look any tanner either!




Bob with his pride and joy.

Just the truck.


I still can’t get over how cool the sand is to the touch. In fact it feels much like baby powder when you hold it in your hand.

Bob found this.


A closer look.

Its the top of a bag that is left in your hand when you rip it off the top to open it. This is when we figured it out! This sand isn’t here naturally! This is sandbox sand that Lowe’s and Home Depot probably delivered truckload after truckload of it here and somebody got sloppy. Sheesh! And we thought we were seeing something spectacular!

Further down the road we came to a sizable picnic area. There were plenty of picnic table/shelters for visitors and of course a bathroom. (There were also plenty of bathrooms situated along the eight mile loop)


The sun and clouds play on the sand.

The sand is being blown away from this desert plant but the roots hold it in place.



The White Sands National Monument lies within the boundaries of the White Sands Missile Range. On average, twice a week, the park and US Route 70 between Las Cruces and Alamogordo are closed for an hour or two for missile testing. Now I don’t know if this happened while we were here because we didn’t hear anything. Also on the White Sands Missile Range is the Trinity Site. This is where back in 1945 the first atom bomb was detonated. We wanted to go to the site but it is only open to the public two days a year, the first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in OCTOBER. We just missed it!
As with anything else, one can look at sand dunes only so much. We surely did enjoy our time here though. It truly is an amazing sight!
On the way back home I snapped a picture of the FamCamp from the road.

….and once again we returned to Holloman.


Another adventure in the life of these full time RV’ers.