White Sands National Monument

On a weekend when we had not much to do, we decided to explore “locally” within the US.
On the basis  of suggestions made  by Bhavna who had a fascinating experience , we  tried to  explore  the White Sands National Monument  which left us spellbound.

So, on  a  sunny  Saturday morning, we took a flight to El Paso, Texas, which was the closest airport to White Sands. El Paso is the 6th largest city in Texas, and is the only major city in Texas that is in Mountain Time Zone, the rest of Texas being in Central Time. El Paso and the whole area including White Sands are parts of the Northern End of the Chihuahua Desert, which extends into Chihuahua state in Mexico. EL Paso is home to Ft Bliss, one of the largest military multiplexes of the United States Army.

We  then rented a car in El Paso, and the first stop was for  the brunch at El Taquito, a small Mexican restaurant .

Highway 54 was seemed deserted, and being a desert area and windy, there was a lot of dust flying around. We passed Orogrande a small town  in USA . Initially  it  was thought  to  be deserted but then saw that there were people living there. This and several other gold mining towns in the area are mostly deserted ghost towns as the gold found here were not in in abundance as estimated previously .

Shortly after passing  the Orogrande,  a huge area  was  seen that was used by Fort Bliss, between the road and the distant Sacramento Mountains; a desert area. We did see the presence of military vehicles here so it was definitely in use.

The ride  tolled into boredom  but we soon reached Alamogordo. After checking in at the hotel and dropping our stuff, we headed to White Sands National Monument, which was 13 miles south of Alamogordo on Highway 70. We passed Hollman Air Force Base, and then arrived at White Sands Visitor Center.   Acquired  the various  knowledges  like  on the geography, formation, wildlife etc of this place which  was  worthy  spending  your precious time.

Turns out This National Monument is within the Tularosa Basin, that was used by the US govt after the Pearl Harbor bombing to set up a Bombing & Gunnery range, and for testing weapons, and is still in use by the US Govt. So the National Monument is completely surrounded by the Hollman AFB and the White Sand missile testing range; to the extent that the National Monument gets closed when missiles are being tested. And to boot, just 65 miles north, is the Trinity site, where the world’s first atom bomb was detonated as a test of the Manhattan Project.

White Sands is one of the world’s great natural wonders. Great wave-like dunes of pure white gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world’s largest gypsum dune field. The gypsum from the surrounding San Andreas and Sacramento mountains get dissolved in rain and make its way down to this basin. The water evaporates leaving behind white Gypsum crystals which with wind forces, become worn down into fine white sand-like crystals. This then gets blown around by the desert winds to form large sand dunes. You can drive into this area and then hike around. See pics below of this beautiful landscape

Video showing the vastness and natural beauty of White Sands, surrounded by mountains

When you hike here, you basically hike from one marker pole to the next parker pole, and keep going that way. When you get to a situation where you cannot see the next marker pole (because the dunes are constantly moving and cover up markers); then you go back the way you came, because it is very easy to get lost here in the dunes. We came across this very situation and backtracked as we could see how easy it was to get lost here.

After the  hiking and  gazing the beauty here, we went for a guided walk in the desert at sundown, to understand about the flora and fauna here. The walk was guided by the Park Ranger and started at 6:30PM. We got educated here with some interesting facts

• There is water (lake) under the gypsum dunes, and at the bottom of the dunes, if you dig, you come across fresh water about 12-18 inches deep
• Even at the top of the dune, you can dig 6-12 inches and get wet gypsum, because gypsum wicks up the moisture from the lake below
• The vegetation seeds here can stay dormant for years and comes back to life easily under the right conditions
• Some of the vegetation here grows up to 6 inches in a day to keep from getting overtaken and buried by the shifting dunes
• There are multiple insects (beetles etc) and wildlife (mice, foxes) that live and survive here

Below are some scenes from the evening

We then drove back to Alamogordo to the hotel, freshened up, and went to find a decent restaurant. After some searching, we quickly realized that there are very few restaurants that are open past 9PM in this small town; and it was getting close to 9PM. Fortunately, we found a nice Asian restaurant (Asian Garden), which had a few patrons, and which closed at 9:30PM. So got our dinner here, and went to sleep. Not much action in Alamogordo.

Next morning, due to flight seat restrictions, we needed to be on a noon flight back to Dallas from El Paso, so we went for breakfast at Rizo’s which is a very nice Mexican family-run restaurant for Ranchero Huevo and Spanish omelet breakfast. We were the first patrons there at 9AM, so we had great service. The food took a little time to prepare since everything was made fresh here. Definitely worth a stop here.

After breakfast, we started driving back to El Paso on Hwy 54. Upon reaching El Paso, we discovered that the flight was delayed by about 1hr, so since we had a little time to kill, we decide to check out the scenic drive over El Paso, which is a drive into the Franklin mountains. This area turned out to be a lookout where you can see all of El Paso below you and across the Rio Grande, you see Juarez, Mexico. See image and video below

Vista views from Franklin Mountains, El Paso

Trivia 1: What is the difference between a National Monument and a National Park?

• National Monuments are decreed by a President, whereas National Parks can only be established by an Act of Congress

Trivia 2: What is the difference between a basin and a valley?

• A basin is where there is no place for water to drain away from, whereas valleys always have lower ground available for water to drain to.

Whites Sands National Monument is definitely worth visiting; and it only takes a 1-2 days to check it out. You can also camp here overnight if you desire.

Oregon Coast next

Related posts:

Big Bend National Park Feb 2009 Wonderful Flora and Fauna in Southern CA; Zameer’s Birthday Sahara Desert Camp and Dilshad’s birthday, Morocco More Mendoza, Argentina

• White Sands National Monument