Surf's Up

  White Sands, New Mexico, United States
Thursday, August 7, 2008

Since I did not get a chance yesterday, I drove to White Sands National Monument (about 50 miles east of Las Cruces) for the evening. I started my visit at the Visitor Center. There is a 17 minute movie on the plants and animals found in the park. This movie plays every half hour on the top and bottom of the hour. Also, there is a really good diorama display on the formation of the dunes. In case you are curious, the Tularosa Basin is surrounded by the San Andreas mountains and the Sacramento mountains. Over millions of years as the rain dissolved the gypsum in the mountains, the mineral-laden water collected into Lake Lucero. As the climate got hotter and since the geography prevent the water from flowing out of Lake Lucero, the water would evaporate leaving the crystalline gypsum in the dry lake bed. Another ingredient needed to form sand dunes is a persistent wind to distribute the sand. The consistent southwest winds have created a 275 square mile field of pure white sand dunes which are still spreading to the northeast and encroaching into Holloman Air Force base. Hopefully the military realizes that gypsum is a valuable resource and that they can sell the gypsum removed from the runways...most likely they probably just filled a bunch of sand bags with the mineral and piled it along the fence line, hoping to prevent the sand from flowing back.

Desert Flower

Desert Flower #2

The activities of the national park centered around the 16 mile scenic drive into the center of the dune field. Throughout the drive there are pull off points with informational placards on the surrounding formations, plants and wildlife. Also there are several areas where you can park your car and enjoy a self guided tour through the dunes. The first self-guided tour was a nature trail with number posts. The park services provided a pamphlet to help direct your attention at the appropriate plant near the posts; however the only pamphlets in the box were written in Spanish. I did not get much knowledge from the trail but I did see tracks made by some animal that I thought was interesting. The next self-guided tour trekked you across a .5 mile boardwalk. Posted at the beginning is a warning that due to the dry air and materials used for the boardwalk that people should be prepared for static discharge. I observed two pre-teen girls having a lot of fun shocking each other. I was surprised that in the middle of the desert that you can find beautiful flowering plants. I was not surprised when I saw lizards scampering away from under the boardwalk as I noisy walked by.

Sand Surfing

At the section called "Heart of the Sands", people frolic in the dunes. I saw people surfing down (or most of the time falling down) the slope of the dunes. I climbed to the top of the nearest dune and was amazed at the miles and miles of sand. At 7 pm, the park services provide a ranger guided tour called "Sunset stroll". I drove to the designated starting point and joined about two dozen other people. It was a really good tour with the ranger doing a show and tell with the various pictures, seeds and crystals in his bag. I found out the animal making those tracks earlier was a beetle. Another fact which blew my mind was the fact that in some areas in the dune field there is a pool of water only several feet below the sand.

30 foot Cottonwood?

Ranger Tony revealed that you can find the pools by spotting where the cottonwood trees are growing...a good fact to know in case you are ever wandering lost in the sand. Ranger Tony proved his point by taking us to a water-filled hole near a collapse cottonwood. The cottonwood collapsed under its weight because the dune, which originally tried to buried it, has blown pass. Next to the fallen tree, you spot a bush at the top of the dune. According to the ranger, it probably is a 30 foot tall cottonwood...WOW!

Sunset at White Sands

After the sun went down, I drove into Alamogordo for dinner. I stopped at an unassuming place called "Margo's". What this restaurant lacked in decorum...it made up in delicious food. I got the chicken enchilada special which was served in Margo's own recipe for sour cream sauce...YUM! Overall, I am glad I spent the time to drive out to see this amazing natural wonder, but it made for a long drive back to Las Cruces. I hope to get a decent night's sleep because I have a busy day planned for tomorrow.