White Sands National Park

This will be a short post -- but thought the beauty of White Sands National Park should stand on it's own. We stayed the night before our visit at a state park just outside the boundary, and arrived late, but was just in time to make PBJs and watch the sun set.

We only had half a day the next morning before we needed to continue on to Guadalupe Mountains NP. We arrived at the park early-- around 7AM, to take advantage of the morning light.

Take advantage we did -- there was a storm brewing in the distance, providing a beautiful deep slate blue backdrop to the sunlight illuminated white gypsum sands of the park.

We did the Alkali Flat loop, barefoot, and ran and played in the sand. I shot Vitali for the cover of Men's Health here too.

The sand was soft, and cool. Cold actually, in between the dunes where the water table was just below the surface. It was powdery like the softest sand in a Caribbean fantasy. But it was gypsum! The stuff they make drywall from. Neat.

There is an active military base adjacent, and a warning sign about unexploded munitions at the edge of Alkali Flat proper.

I wanted to spend a night here in their 'backcountry' sites, but when we were there, they were still closed due to covid. The enforcement of social distancing precautions has been uneven, to say the least, across state and park lines. California has by far been the most conservative. I even saw a hand dryer closed! Texas took the least precautions (hold your surprise) -- no 'masks required' signs for the federal buildings there (which was federal law). But, I digress.

White Sands is very similar to Great Sand Dunes National Park, with the dune field up against the mountains. We even got to sled a little bit! We would have loved to visit right at sunrise or sunset.

On the way out we passed the World's Largest Pistachio (maybe 30' tall!), which apparently they grow around here. We love pistachios...