White Sands National Monument

[MTGomer]

Last Thursday I visited White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The broken down gypsum creates a sand that is almost perfectly white.
The monument is home to some species such as a sub species of the little white whiptail and the bleached earless lizard, which have evolved over just the last few thousand years to their unique environment. They are found nowhere else in the world.

White sands is hot this time of year. It also borders a missile range and occasionally closes for a missile drill. Thursday was one such day, so we didn’t get in until 10:30, and the temperature was up by then. Due to the heat the exploring wasn’t as intense as we’d planned, but we still got some sledding in. Yes, SLEDDING.

Check it out if you’re ever in the area, especially in the winter.

 

[MThuntr]

Spent several days on the missile base side of the area last month. That area is a huge playa and the gypsum comes from an old formation. Gypsum is very soluble in water. The water table in that area is often only a couple feet below the surface. Really cool vegetation if you're into that. We saw a few Oryx.

 

[HighDesertSage]

My in laws live in Alamogordo. We were there in April. My kids loved the sand sledding. Cloudcroft is one of my favorite places in the country to chase elk.

 

[Crumb]

That’s crazy at first glance I thought the first picture was snow!

 

[Sytes]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing, MTGomer.

 

[NM34R]

If you can, try to come on the full moon, watch the sunset over the Organ mountains then do a 180 and watch the moon rise over the Sacramento Mountains. Our favorite time to go out there. Look me up if you are in the area.

 

[genesis273]

My in laws live in Alamogordo. We were there in April. My kids loved the sand sledding. Cloudcroft is one of my favorite places in the country to chase elk.

My wife, daughter, and I go out to see our son at Holloman AFB. While there in December, they insisted on having family photos taken at White Sands and in the Cloudcroft area, which turned out nice. I haven't elk hunted around Cloudcroft yet, but do enjoy hiking some of the trails in the area.

 

[1_pointer]

Neat pics!! That last one looks an awful lot like work...

 

[duckhunt]

That looks really cool

 

[MThuntr]

Neat pics!! That last one looks an awful lot like work...

We were there for Soil Geomorphology

[video=youtube;YCU04SK9GG4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCU04SK9GG4[/video]

 

[1_pointer]

We were there for Soil Geomorphology

[video=youtube;YCU04SK9GG4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCU04SK9GG4[/video]

Beats the distance taught classes!