Storm & Sand 2 – White Sands National Park
- nwriversphotograph
- Jun 27
- 6 min read
One of the most amazing things about our recent trip across the west was the weather. We traveled from the Pacific Northwest (PNW) with its cold drizzle to what we expected would be warmer climes and sun in California and the Southwest. We got that eventually, but along the way, we were accompanied by storms.
Cold light, greys and whites of the clouds, wind, rain, snow, sometimes broken by sunlight and rarer, by rainbows and lightning. Storms along the coast, in the mountains, and in the desert. Being in a beautiful place, with a storm rolling in, is just mesmerizing, and so, so special.
Wildlife huddled under trees or hiding in their dens, birds either perched precariously or soaring the roaring winds aloft – seeking shelter or the wickedly wild flight of true weather. Watching the birds, it was impossible to not join them by rolling down the window to feel the rain on your face and to hand-surf those winds streaming past you on the road. Mile by mile, mimicking and following those flying above and beside you.
In my last post, Storm & Sand 1, we talked about the impact of storms on our visit to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and today I present images from New Mexico’s White Sands National Park. Like Organ Pipe Cactus, White Sands started out as a National Monument. It was designated as such by President Hebert Hoover in 1933 under the Antiquities Act of 1906 for its scenic, scientific, and educational interest. More recently, in 2019, President Trump, in his first term, passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. That legislation included language that protected the original 145,762 monument acres and elevated White Sands as the 62nd National Park (in 2018 then-President Trump also created Camp Nelson National Monument in Kentucky).
The world’s largest gypsum dune field, White Sands, and its gypsum crystals form in sedimentary rocks, often in association with salt deposits and from evaporation of mineral-rich water. Gypsum is used for drywall, as a soil conditioner in agriculture, in cement manufacturing, and as plaster. In fact, dehydrated gypsum has been used for centuries as Plaster of Paris in sculptures.
The soft, pearly, and stark white of the crystals in the foreground, along with storm clouds and faded mountains as a backdrop, offered some amazing contrast and beautiful images. Black and grey clouds, white sand interspersed with gold from that rare sunbeam, and the green from a few nearby trees was lovely. And we got to enjoy this even before arriving at the park.
The night before, our sprinter was camped at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park just outside of Alamogordo with White Sands visible along the far horizon. It started out as a sunny afternoon, but as evening approached the horizon lines were blurred out by approaching sandstorms – White Sands, it seemed, was coming to us!
The blowing sands turned the sun an incredible shade of yellow/white, which filtered across the sky, cactus, and ground until, minute by minute, the storm was on us and visibility dropped to zero. And sand is nearly impossible to keep out of your vehicle (almost everyone in a tent was set up inside a three-walled picnic kiosk). I was dealing with sore eyes from driving and allergies, and we quickly bailed to a local motel. So much for the hard-core campers we used to be!
The storm remained for several days, but luckily the sand in the Park stopped blowing hard and the visuals improved. With the ability to walk and hike (and an afternoon of being complete tourists by sledding down the dunes), and the storm hanging back along the skyline, we had a three-sixty view of dark and light.
White Sands was the furthest our trip would take us. After that we headed north to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos and the loop back home through Colorado, Utah, Idaho and back to the PNW. Stay with my posts as we circle back to Washington State and Bellingham.
“And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon.”
Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat
Endnotes: The plight of our national monuments and public lands
Our family has not visited all of our National Parks over the years -- but most of them. So more recently we have taken trips to visit our National Monuments which can be less crowded and less known. What we have learned is that they are all magical and wonderful places to visit, no less beautiful, no less a Meca for recreation, and certainly no less deserving of protection than our world-famous National Parks. Less than two weeks ago (early June), the Department of Justice published an opinion that the President has the authority to not only shrink but completely abolish areas protected as national monuments and that disavows a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act can't be revoked. This decision goes hand-in-hand with the current Senate’s most sweeping and indiscriminate public land sell off of some 3.3 million acres managed by the Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), part of the Senate’s version of the current spending package. While a similar sale of public lands was beaten back in the House version, this version would put any multiple-use FS or BLM land on the table and prioritizes oil, gas, and timber development on public lands, with fewer protections for recreation, wildlife, and climate. There are virtually no safeguards on what land can be sold or for what purpose. For more on this, go to the Outdoor Alliance website. This site also has a map of lands at risk from the sale off. Lands and recreation at risk from this include those within the Absaroka Mountains and Wind River Range in Montana and Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest, the Little White Salmon in Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest (a phenomenal whitewater resource), Tongass National Forest in Alaska, and others.
President Trump during his first term excised more than 1.1 million acres (almost all) from Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument (designated by President Obama and then restored by Biden) and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Having been to both many times, I can verify that Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase are some of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen. For those who have not been there, it is more than just a name or a dot-on-the-map. Like other at-risk public lands and monuments, it is your national heritage, well worth your time and well worth protection until you can get there (plan your visit soon). And if you have ever backpacked or climbed in the Wind Rivers, paddled the White Salmon, or viewed Absaroka’s frame just north of Yellowstone National Park, you already know their irreplaceable value.
This Endnote really focuses on recreation links. That is not to short the beauty, history and tribal and social values of our National Monuments and other public resources. But my life has been spent biking, hiking, and paddling and I have a deep respect for the value of recreation in our lives, and the value of public lands. Above, I’ve provided a link to an Outdoor Alliance news report, and the Alliance is the only organization in the U.S. that unites the voices of human-powered outdoor enthusiasts to conserve public lands) works through a partnership with climbers, paddlers, hikers, backcountry skiers, mountain bikers, surfers, and others. It is a great coalition and also deserves your following and support.
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