White Sands National Park is located about 15 miles southwest of Alamogordo in Southern New Mexico. It is in the heart of the Tularosa Basin and is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and created the world's largest gypsum dune field. The National Park Service preserves a major portion of this unique dune field, along with the plants and animals that have successfully adapted to this constantly changing environment.
The dunes are very accessible. That said, dune trails are not well marked and one can explore freely beyond the trails. The Park's size is deceiving and while it appears small, it isn't. Visitors frequently get lost and some have died before help could arrive.
The Desert in Daylight
The Desert at Dawn and Dusk
Desert Close-ups
More About White Sands
Adjacent to the White Sands National Park is the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), which has a historic past and an impressive mission for today’s security. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the US Government established the Army's White Sands Proving Grounds - a missile-testing facility. The Government also established the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range which is now a part of Holloman Air Force Base.
WSMR was one of the key locations of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb during World War II. The testing of the first atomic bomb took place in 1945 at the Trinity site on WSMR, 65 miles north of White Sands National Park.
L. Carl Volpe - carl.volpe@gmail.com
Images from my other photo adventures may be found at the link below.