White Sands National Monument

It had been our intention to get up early and go out to explore White Sands National Monument before meeting Philip later in the morning, however we must have had a brief power cut overnight, and so the alarm didnt go off and we didnt get up as early as intended. We still went for a quick visit, and thought we would return in the late afternoon if there was time.
We went for a very different hike today. Philip took us up to Cloudcroft, a mountain community, at a height of 8,600 ft in Lincoln National Forest to the east of Alamogordo. It is popular with tourists year round - its high elevation provides a welcome respite from the heat of summer, while in the winter it is popular for cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. So today's trail took us through forest scenery - a far cry from the desert of yesterday. The Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway was built at the turn of the century to harvest timber in the heavily forested Sacramento Mountains. To build the railroad up into the mountains from the Tularosa Valley, workers constructed fifty eight wooden trestles. One of the hikes we took led to one of these imposing bridges. The railroad reached 8,700 feet in elevation, at the time the highest standard gauge line in the world. The steep grades and sharp curves made the railroad dangerous. It was not uncommon for engines to lose control on the steep grades, jump the tracks, and plunge over the side. After our hike we had a very late lunch (mid-afternoon!) at Philip's favorite Mexican restaurant in Alamogordo. Then we headed back to explore White Sands a bit more.

White Sands National Monument is the largest gypsum dune field in the world. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) that forms these unusual dunes originates in the western portion of the monument from an ephemeral lake or playa with a very high mineral content. As the water evaporates, the minerals are left behind to form gypsum deposits that eventually are wind-transported to form these white sand dunes. This dune field is very dynamic, with the most active dunes moving to the northeast at a rate of up to 30 feet per year, while the more stable areas of sand move very little. Many species of plants and animals have developed very specialized means of surviving in this area of cold winters, hot summers, with very little surface water and highly mineralized ground water. The light was quite striking - lovely late afternoon/early evening light in places, while over the mountains in the distance rain clouds were gathering and there was a rainbow. I rather liked the simplicity of this shot taken after the sun had set. Then it was time to head back to Albuquerque ready for our morning flight back home.

One year ago: My two girls!