White Sands

Six months ago we packed our sled into the under storage of our trailer in anticipation of visiting one place.  I’d never been there before – only seen it in pictures and mentions on a fulltime families Facebook board I belong to.  But it looked too cool to pass up, and I made sure that our route would take us by it.

The place: White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico. This 275 square mile landmark of white gypsum dunes is so large it is visible from space. This is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world and its geography is rather unique. The gypsum comes from erosion of the surrounding mountains, and anywhere else, the selenite (gypsum) would dissolve into the rivers and be carried away. Here, the land in all directions slopes down to the Tullarosa Basin, and water from the mountains collects here – and doesn't flow anywhere else.  As the lake evaporates, the dissolved selenite recrystallizes and then the winds carry the crystals from the lake area. The selenite is softer than your fingernail, and flakes easily into tiny, soft grains of gypsum. There’s enough gypsum sand here that it has formed into dunes over the last several thousand years.  A lot of dunes. Dunes that reach 50 – 60 feet high. Dunes you can sled on. That’s why we came.

It was a perfect winter day in the desert. Not too hot, not too cool, and the sky was a brilliant blue from horizon to horizon. As we neared our destination the landscape turned from the yellows & browns of the desert to a pale white until we were close enough to see piles of white sand spilling through a chain link fence alongside the highway. We had arrived. After a stop at the visitor center to watch a video & learn more about the unique ecology of the area, and what to expect out on the dunes and to purchase a disc sled for Lily (‘cause you know, one sled for two kids just isn't enough) it was time to head out on the road that would take us into the dunefield. On the edges of the dunefield, the sand creeps forward at a slow pace, and lots of plants grow in & around the dunes. Further in, where the dunes can move at a rate of 12-15 feet per year, it’s a sea of towering white, set against a backdrop of darker mountains (the source). The road is paved for the first couple of miles, but after that it’s just plowed around (and through) the dunes. Now, you might assume an area of desert sand dunes to be super dry, and at the surface it is. But just beneath the surface of the dunes is quite wet (and I mean right below) – a special feature of the area. I was surprised to hear the unmistakable sound of the tires splashing through water as we drove. The small puddles found only along this portion of the road did a fantastic job of thoroughly coating the undersides of truck & trailer in layer of white sticky sand. The stuff is soft and smooth, like talc, but sure does stick to everything and dries like a cement crust! (We brought the trailer in with us on suggestion from another full-time nomadic family that have been here several times. It was nice to have it with us for food, water, spare clothes & such, but it did get pretty sandy!)

We took a quick walk along the Interdune Boardwalk, to learn more about life in the areas between the dunes, and then headed to a picnic spot further in to have some lunch beside the trailer and try out our sleds for the first time. The kids were way more interested in sledding and covering themselves in sand than eating. While having lunch we were all startled by an extremely loud crack of noise that seemed to come from all around – a sonic boom from one of the military jets that also call this area home. That one, and the two others that followed (those were quieter) were rather neat to hear. (The monument is surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range, where the first atomic bomb in the US was detonated, and is still a very active military area, today.)

While sledding, Morgan busily tried to convince me (and anyone else who would listen) that all the white stuff was really snow – just special stuff that didn't melt. I finally got him with the question “So why are the crystals not six sided like snowflakes?” and then he capitulated. “Okay, it’s sand, I was just trying to trick you.” he said.  (I think he enjoys it when he can engage someone in a test of knowledge – see if they can out-trick him.) Once the kids had their fill (of the picnic area and of lunch) we moved on to find some taller dunes to slide down.

We definitely found some good ones. The road makes a big loop in the farthest section, and all we had to do was park in one of the many pull outs, pick a dune, and go for it. The sand isn't as fast as packed down snow, but you can still get moving pretty good. We visited several different dunes along the loop, finding that each one offered up a bit of a different slope to slide on, and something new to see on the windswept side (in a landscape of seemingly endless white dunes).

Morgan’s favorite way to get down seemed to be to hang on to the back of our big black sled and have it drag him down the hill (penguin slide style). Needless to say, he was quite thoroughly covered in sand from head to toe by the end of the day. Lily had lots of fun riding the disc sled and crashing at the bottom of the hills. It’s a good thing the sand is relatively soft! I tried out both sleds a couple times, and must admit it was rather exhilarating, but what I liked most was walking barefoot in the soft cool sand.

We didn't see any wildlife out on the sand (other than a couple of bugs), but we did see their tracks everywhere we went. There’s plenty of animal life out on the shifting sands, but most of it is hidden away during the day -except for the crusts of cyanobacteria. We found lots of that, but left it alone. It was just minding its business, doing important ecological things for the dunes and disturbing the crusts would mean a hundred years or more of disruption of its job.

Everyone spent several hours playing on and exploring the dunes, getting coated in fine gypsum and tracking damp sand (which hardens like cement) all over the trailer before we tired of playing and took one last walk on the Dune Life Nature Trail near the edge of the dunes. Here we learned more about the life of the animals (kit fox, lizards, birds, insects found nowhere else, snakes and more) & plants (yucca – who grows super long stems to keep it’s leaves above the shifting sands), cottonwood trees (which can still survive as long as a few leaves stay above the dune surface, even when everything else is covered), shrubs (whose roots create a hard sand pillar which remains long after the dune has moved on) grasses, and others) who call the area home. With the sun setting behind us, a full afternoon of exploring under our belts, and sand in our hearts & hair (and everywhere else!) we headed in to Alamogordo for the night. 

If you ever happen to be in southern New Mexico, make sure you come see White Sands NM. It’s definitely a sight not to be missed.  Just beware – the sand takes forever to clean up!