We left Wilcox early, driving through desert landscape. We arrived at White Sands in the early afternoon. This monument is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world, covering 275 square miles. The sand- really almost more a powder- is cool to the touch even on the hottest day, as there is water very close to the surface here. Gypsum is washed down from the mountains, settling in the lowest area of the park, Lake Lucero. Lake Lucero itself is not open to the general public. The Park Service offers several guided tours there over the course of the year. Once the gypsum settles in the lake, it forms into crystals, which are then worn down by wind and rain until they reach the size of a corn flake. The wind carries these pieces long distances, friction making them smaller and smaller as they move across the earth's surface. The dunes themselves, although constantly moving and changing, do not blow away because of the level of moisture in the sand.
Because the dunes are constantly moving- some areas move more than 50 feet per year- plants have had to adapt. For example, the yucca plant so common here, grows a very long stem to allow the green part of the plant to stay above the level of the sand. Once the dune has moved on, the stem is too weak to hold up the top of the plant, so it just collapses. Another strange adaptation is by the animals. Many animals here have evolved to have very light colored bodies to blend into the white sand. The most amazing part of this is how quickly this adaptation has occurred. The earless lizard and the Apache pocket mouse are two examples of this.
We took several walks into different areas of the dunes. The sky was beautiful, bright blue against the white of the dunes, with fluffy white clouds. It was a little surprising as we drove deeper into the park when the pavement stopped, and you were driving on packed gypsum sand. It really looked like plowed snow. The dunes deeper in the park had fewer plants to hold the dunes in place, so tended to move more in these areas.
We went back to the Visitor Center to talk to the ranger, as we had heard they had a full moon walk the night of the full moon, which would be the next night. We were disappointed to find that the walk was full- and had been since one day after it was announced! However, they do have a sunset walk every evening. We drove up to Alamogordo, the nearest town, to grab an early supper, then returned back to the park in time for the walk. It was a beautiful evening- a little wind, not too much, beautiful clouds over the mountains, long shadows on the sand- just a mystical feeling being there in the evening. The ranger who gave the tour was very knowledgeable, talked about the formation of the dunes and the plants and wildlife. The tour ended on the top of a dune in time for the sunset. Just spectacular!
You can tell by the number of photos that I loved this park. After enjoying watching the setting sun, we set our for Ruidoso, where we had an RCI rental for two nights. We knew it was about 1 1/2 hours away, but we were not really prepared to drive in the dark on unfamiliar roads, construction on many of them, winding mountain roads... not really fun. Our GPS took us on a "shortcut" to the lodge, up over a logging road... when we could have just stayed on blacktop and been fine... When we reached the lodge, they had left a key for us. It was a challenge to find the unit, as the numbering did not really match the instructions. Turned out the unit was a rather old-fashioned ski lodge, could have used some updating, but we made out OK.
We decided to play golf the next day on a local course in town. I was happy it appeared to be an easy course, as the last one we played was not. The course was not in good shape, although we played with a nice guy who was a course ranger- he certainly helped out with some of our shot decisions. Overall, it was a nice day. We would move on to Santa Fe the next day.
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