Framedlight

  Time was running out for us at White Sands. We went to the boardwalk area and watched some little animals get what they could from the hostile environment. These are a chipmunk, a clay coloured sparrow and an caterpillar who I cannot identify. Finally we went back to the Dune Nature Trail to watch the sun going down. The dunes mellowed and the sun lit up the mountains.

The Alkali Flat area of White Sands is immense but the Dunes Drive only takes you to the edge of it. We walked a small part of the marked trail between the dunes and I took some pictures of the dramatic landscape. We saw a bleached earless lizard whose colouring has changed to be lighter than that of those found in the Chihuahuan Desert. The lighter colouring reflects the heat better and helps to disguise the animal.

We carried on with our exploration of the White Sands and drove up to the Alkali Flat Trail. We had had a taste of the Sands, but we had not been prepared for the strangeness of this place. The dunes were higher, everything was whiter and the scale was enormous. It was a place for exploration and play. Even the car park was odd with space age picnic spots. Everything stands out in this landscape.  Here are the people related pictures from this place.