Day 8 White Sands

White Sands sounds like such a plain name for such a magnificent place.  It is a protected plain between two mountain ranges with its start over 200 million years ago when the area was water and over the course of those millions of years it evolved to what it is today, so much gypsum sand. You can only enter on days that the roads are open as they are often blocked due to testing and research by the military which owns the neighboring property.  We were lucky in that it was a cool windy day, only about 65 degrees.  The visitor’s center and gift shop offer a glimpse of the history of the area and we could fill our hydration packs before we headed on our way into the park.  There is a very nice 8 mile drive loop you can take, which we did.  It is paved to start but then is just packed down sand.  It is like driving into another world, as you drive in and everything as far as you can see is white.  The roads and the dunes, which go on forever, small, large, steep, you name it.  We decided to do our hike first and thought we’d attempt the 5 mile “flat” hike which is very deceiving as you hike UP very, very steep dunes even though sometimes you resort to crawling.  There are specific recommendations for being out in the dunes, such as making sure you pack enough water, wear sun protective clothing and stay on the trail, which isn’t a trail at all but the spaces between bright orange markers.  You aim for the next marker and keep on slogging along, up and down and across.  It felt like we were in a winter wonderland with all the white, so it seemed like it should be very cold.  They encourage sledding, selling sleds and wax in the gift shop but we remembered to bring our own sleds from home and just bought the wax.  Did we sled?  Read on.

The hike was as challenging or strenuous as the books and brochures describe it. The flats were easy enough but then you’d see that big dune in the distance and work your way up.  You look around to see if you were the only crazy people out there but we weren’t the only ones attempting this insane hike.  It was much easier stepping down the steep slopes :), and we did make good time on the downs.  I must take this opportunity to thank Jenny for all those squats as going up and down those slopes was testing those muscles out for sure.  We had our hydration packs and sipped as needed but can’t even imagine trying this in the summer when it is actually hot.  The signs warned of not going on the hike if it is 85 or higher as the sands reflect the sun and make it more dangerous.  Cha-ching!  We did it and in good time too! 

We also did a short “boardwalk” walk and a very well-narrated sunset tour before sledding down some steep slopes. The hardest part is climbing up!  

We drove into the nearby town and settled into our reserved KOA site (No Vacancy! here), heated up some supper and hit the bed early; we were both out by 8:30.  Tomorrow we have to be up early to get to Carlsbad Caverns for our tour slot.