 |  |  |  |  | | Guadalupe | White
Sands | Saguaro | Grand
Canyon | Bryce |
 |  |  |  |  |  | Capitol
Reef | Arches | Monument
Valley | A Hotel | Tombstone | Misc. |
White Sands National Monument - New Mexico
Monday was a double national park day. We got a good jump on the day and made great time to the first park – White Sands National Monument. With its visitor center fifty four miles northeast of Las Cruces, the park is completely surrounded by White Sands Missile Range. Now this is exciting stuff! According to the brochure, the missile range “was first used as a military proving grounds after World War II for testing rockets that were captured from the German armed forces. The 4,000-square-mile range continues to be an important testing site for experimental weaponry and space technology.” With my head cocked back and my mouth wide open, I watched the fastest aircraft I’ve ever seen scrape across the sky. The fact that they weren’t flying all that high made it even more amazing because I couldn’t hear them until long out of view! So fast.
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We crossed through the missile range inspection station and arrived at the visitor center just before it opened. We utilized the self-serve park envelope payment system and slowly idled down Dunes Drive (8 miles one way) to experience Big Dune Nature Trail and an area known as Heart of the Sands.
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 | This vehicle with California plates has seen its share of mud, I'd say.
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 | Dunes Drive loops around at its terminus.
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For me, White Sands was the biggest surprise of all the parks. I knew climbing Guadalupe Peak would be great, and I knew that the Grand Canyon would blow me away, but I didn’t expect much out of White Sands. I mean, it’s a bunch of sand, right? Let me tell you, I was wrong. White Sands is uncomplicated beauty as far as the eye can see.
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The question on the tip of my tongue was, “Where did all this white sand come from?” The answer lies within the brochure. “The gypsum that forms the white sands was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining side of the original dome formation now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin.”
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 | Posts keep you on the path in White Sands. It's amazing how quickly we got separated in this park. You would think that spotting someone would be easy against an enormous blank white slate, but the undulating dunes are tricky, cutting your line of sight to nil.
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 | Here I am (Taylor), framing a shot after having just climbed the dune.
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 | Don't be fooled. I used the macro setting for this shot. These tracks were tiny - the size of a dime.
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 | My absolute favorite aspect of the Southwest was its gnarly, dried-out, wind-whipped trees. We would see these lifeless yet photogenic subjects in most of the parks we visited.
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 | From a distance, these look a bit like golf carts or tipped over sheds, when in fact they are tables and benches with a metal cover.
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 | What a great idea! Hey, next time, we have to remember our sleds.
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After a few hours of hiking and photographing the countless dunes of White Sands, we hopped back on the interstate and drove 250+ miles west to Saguaro National Park, immediately east of Tucson, AZ.
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| | | | | | Guadalupe | White
Sands | Saguaro | Grand
Canyon | Bryce |
| | | | | | Capitol
Reef | Arches | Monument
Valley | A Hotel | Tombstone | Misc. |
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