2/21 and 2/23 - Alamogordo and White Sands National Monument, NM

 

Alamogordo is right up against the west side of the Sacramento Mountains.
They're as beautiful as naked rock and dirt mountains can be.

 

Sacramento Mountains in clear weather

 

 

Across Alamogordo to the San Andres Mountains through blowing white sand

Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been cooperative while we've been here so the mountains have been hidden by clouds for the past two days.  The wind was really strong on Saturday and Sunday..... the picture above from 2/21 is looking across the Tularosa Basin from Alamogordo to the San Andres Mountains on the west side.  The blowing white sand totally obscured the mountains for a while. 

 

 

 White Sands National Monument - gypsum looks just like snow!

We're so glad we didn't try to do White Sands National Monument while the wind was blowing yesterday.  We wouldn't have been able to get out of the truck.  Today was cold (didn't get over 37) but the wind had died down so it was a nice visit.  We took a short walk along a trail just to see what it was like walking in the sand.  It wasn't as difficult as beach sand until we got to a fairly steep dune where it was deeper and we had a tough time climbing.  The sand is very fine gypsum so it's nothing like beach sand.....much finer....softer and more powdery.  Leaves a powdery coating on your hands.  Almost like talcum powder in the areas where it's been blown so far from the start.  People are allowed to slide down the dunes on saucers (like on snow).  There must be a lot of activity there in good weather because there are a lot of parking lots and ten restrooms spread out over the area.

 

Picnic area - each table has its own wind break

 

 

It's an amazing geological feature.....very young, between 4,000 and 10,000 years old.  Plants have made fascinating adjustments to enable themselves to live in the constantly changing environment.  Yuccas grow very long stems to keep their leaves above the surface as dunes move over them.  When the dunes pass (they move up to 30 feet a year), the yuccas can't support themselves on their long spindly stems so they fall over and die.  It's curious that their adaptation to keep themselves alive ends up killing them.  Other plants spread themselves out and anchor their own little dune so it can't move.  Their roots go all through it to hold it in place.

Some of them are quite comical......they look like monsters having a bad-hair day.  

 

 

 Plant securing its own dune

We had the most spectacular sunset Saturday night.  Boot Hill RV Resort is a good campground.......good views of the Sacramento Mountains behind us and the San Andres Mountains about 50 miles across the Basin.  We could see the blowing sand 30 miles away from here yesterday.  This is basically a gravel lot with hook-ups, but the spaces are wide and it has an open feel to it.  They have a small dog run which has some brown crackly grass in it so Lovie does have somewhere to go.  She's getting better about going on gravel and dirt.  

 

 

Sunset from Boot Hill RV Resort, Alamogordo, NM

We're thoroughly enjoying the trip and what we've seen of the west is very interesting, but I miss the trees and vegetation of the East.....and the humidity.  Never thought I'd say I missed humidity, but it's so dry here my hair is either flying straight out from my head or sticking to it like glue.

And our noses are so dry we have to use saline solution every day.  Everything since East Texas has given the impression of dust, dirt, dryness, and grit.  The towns are all dusty and dirty, incredibly run down and poor.  So far, all of New Mexico looks poor and decrepit.  It had the worst, most pitiful welcome center on I-10 west of El Paso.  We went there specifically to get a NM map and they didn't have any.  It consisted of one very tiny room and the restrooms which were terribly rundown.  The whole place needed paint and a good clean-up.  There was something on the Albuquerque news about how the whole state's road infrastructure was in desperate need of repair but they didn't have the money to do it.  And I thought Mississippi was poor!

 

We're hoping the weather will clear up enough to drive up to Cloudcroft and Sunspot tomorrow.  They're on top of the Sacramento Mountains.......Sunspot is over 9000 ft and has the national solar observatory.  One of the main reasons to go up there is for the view so it's a big deal that the cloud cover has lifted.

 

We've been lucky and avoided the snow so far.  Just had ice this morning which melted quickly even though it took till afternoon to get over freezing.  The temp dropped to 28 or less last night after a forecast of 38.  Good thing the water didn't freeze.  We've switched to the heated hose for tonight.