Located a few miles outside of Alamogordo is White Sands National Monument. White Sands is an amazing landscape of glistening white dunes formed from gypsum crystals that spans about 300 square miles. Walking over the dunes gives one a feeling of walking through a snowfield (minus the frigid temps). After cresting over a dune and getting into an area that has been less trodden, I was taken with the quiet serenity of the area. Not a sound can be heard except for the wind rustling in the sparse vegetation that is sprinkled in the lower lying areas. Any other sounds are muffled by the densely packed sand. It is very surreal.
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| White Sands National Monument |
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In the outlying areas of the park there are cottonwood trees that dot the landscape. The trees look dead, but are dormant this time of year. Tiny buds on the end of the limbs hint at the life that is waiting to unfold in a few weeks.
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| Cottonwood Tree in White Sands National Monument |
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| Alamo (Spanish for Cottonwood) |
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No other signs of life in the vast sea of sand, except for a few yucca, the occasional slithering tracks of snakes and the paw prints of the nocturnal hunters in the area...
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A Yucca lies buried by the drifting sands
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...and the occasional reminder of the human element that can't seem to refrain from making their mark on this otherwise pristine setting.
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| Coke Bottle - -White Sands National Monument |
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