Where Did All This White Stuff Come From?!?

We have been complaining about the cold night temperatures for the last week. But today's picture looks like we have definitely traveled too far north. Our pictures are filled with white drifts taller than our car, and more of the white stuff covering the road.

It looks like a blizzard just went through this area in the mountains of New Mexico. There was large machinery removing loads of the white stuff to clear parking lots and roads.

We were surrounded by it for as far as we could see!

The main winter sport of this area is sledding. So we bought a sled, and headed to the top of the hill. It's a good thing Mark has been growing a beard to keep his face warm in these brutal winter conditions!

Denisa is obviously happy to be at the top of the sled hill as well.

Then she headed down that big hill, screaming all the way to the bottom!

Wait a minute! Why is Denisa sledding in her bare feet? and where is Mark's ski parka?

Well, we ARE in the mountains of New Mexico in January. But all this white stuff is NOT snow. We are visiting the White Sands National Monument, the largest gypsum sand dunes in the world.

Even though the mounds of white can look like snow, they are actually powder-fine sand.

Because the sand is made of very fine gypsum, it is perfectly white. This basin is ringed by mountains, and we enjoyed bright blue skies that made beautiful contrast to the white sand. We have definitely wandered into another of God's wonders today.

We took a hike through the never-ending dune fields. The ranger told us to be sure to follow the marked trail. We were on the Back Country trail, with orange trail markers.

Your instructions are to only continue on the trail if you can see the next marker. If you can't see the forward marker, you should go back the way you came reversing the markers.

It would be so easy to get disoriented and lost in this sea of white! We hiked in the sand on a loop trail that was several miles long, and it was so beautiful! Mark found that he is a tender-foot. Just like the sand on the beach will give him a blood blister when playing spike ball; going up and down sand dunes in the desert will do the same.

We took the time to watch the national park film at the visitor center, and we always learn things about the new environment we are getting ready to explore. We learned that the wind is usually relentless in this area, and the southwesterly winds constantly move the sand around in waves.

Those winds will cause the dunes to move 12-14 feet in a year's time. Areas where there is a shallow layer of sand will usually be covered by desert plants that enjoy this environment.

The blowing sand and higher levels of sand will have a grave effect on those cactus and grass plants that struggle to keep their heads above that shifting sand.

They will grow a stalk under the increasingly tall dune, trying to keep the plant on top of the shifting sand. This yucca plant is now completely hidden, with only the tall seed pods stretching out of the dune.

It made a neat picture with the sun and the sand and the struggling soapweed pods struggling for survival in this unusual environment.

When the dune shifts away from the elongated plant, there is nothing to support the tall stalk that formed under the sand. We saw lots of barren stalks across the desert valleys, that had collapsed.

Other plants have thicker roots, that form a mass under the sand dune. When the wind shifts the sand away from the plant, it cements the sand around it to form peculiar looking formations. Now in the open and flat areas between the dunes, this sand and root combination makes homes for some of the desert animals.

While watching the national park firm, we also learned about the desert animals. Most are nocturnal, thus avoiding the oppressive heat of this area in the summer. We didn't see any wildlife in our day-time visit. But we saw plenty of tracks in the sand verifying their activity.

The bird tracks were everywhere, but we also saw that some mammals run over these dunes.

Now that we have educated our readers about the flora and fauna of the White Sands National Park, we feel obligated to spend some time on the really important stuff. That would include one of Denisa's favorite new activities--sand sledding. We also took way too many pictures that she wanted to include in the blog.

We bought a used sled at the visitor's center, and used it to slide down the dunes over and over. Our favorite slope had a well-worn groove in the sand, that got smoother and faster as the sand packed down. We also bought wax at the gift shop. When applied to the bottom of the sled, it makes the trip down the hill faster as well.

Branching out and making your own trails can be adventurous, but not as fast until the sand gets packed.

Sometimes going down the slope involved rotating on the sled sideways.

And sometimes there is a fast dismount at the bottom.

Mark was quick to jump up after his sledding crash (but we can't say the same about the guy behind him in the picture below).

For some reason, the trips down the hill are faster than the trips back up. Every free-flying trip down the dune, means a laborious breath-sucking crawl back up the hill. But we try to think of all the calories we are burning with this exertion, and it makes us feel better about the ice cream we will eat later.

The slope of the dune is very important to the success of the sledding experience. If the dune is too flat, you sink into the sand instead of gliding over it.

The most important tip we can give on sledding is that this activity is more fun if you go with someone that also likes to have fun.

Used sand sleds and wax can be returned to the gift shop for a $3.50 rebate. We couldn't think of anywhere else we would use ours, or where we would store it in the motor home, so we took ours back and pocketed the refund.

White Sands was a great national monument, and we had a fun time visiting here. We spent most of the day hiking and sledding in the sand, and we were blessed with the perfect temperature for our visit. More importantly, we were blessed with an absolutely calm day. The winds that move these dunes around can sand-blast visitors on many days. As the sun fell low in the sky, our shadows grew longer.