February 25, 2016
A 30-mile day trip from our spectacular Aguirre Spring campground brought us to White Sands National Monument. I cannot put it better than the following description on their website:
"Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world's largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here."
The dunes are created when rain and melting snow dissolve gypsum from the surrounding mountains and carry it into a nearby seasonal lake (Lucero). The desert heat evaporates the water, causing gypsum crystals to form. The dry winds expose the crystals, eroding them into sand-size particles which are blown into the dune field.
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| The illusion of a snow-covered road... |
As I walked along the desert trail, I reflected on the quote we saw earlier at the Visitors Centre
I'm really looking forward to this national monument ... it has always been high on our list of places to see.
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