New Mexico
Entering New Mexico
White Sands
July 16, 2016
As it turns out, waking up to cows sniffing around your tent is a very interesting way to be greeted in the morning, and also very effective at getting you out of bed. A quick shower later, and we were on the road towards White Sands, New Mexico. After getting on the road, there was only one problem: our GPS had us arriving there at 6:40, and the last permits for camping were issued at 7:00. This meant we would have no margin for error, no stops for food, and any gas refills/bathroom breaks would need to be done fast. In the end we arrived at White Sands at 6:47, and managed to grab one of the last camping sites among the sand dunes. Now, for those of you who don’t know what White Sands looks like I would encourage you to look at the google images for the place, because it looks almost exactly like the pictures. Of course you could also just look at the wonderful pictures we’ve taken which are conveniently located below. The White Sands National Monument is simply incredible, and once you are in the dunes it is just white sandy dunes as far as you can see, even though you know you are surrounded by desert and missile testing ranges. A quick fun fact about this place is that supposedly the sand is still slightly radioactive due to the nearby missile testing. Unluckily, our extensive packing list did not include a geiger counter, so we were not able to test this for ourselves. There’s always a next time though…
Enjoying the impressive scenery on our drive through Texas and New Mexico
On the road
July 17, 2016
After waking up early to see the sunrise, which was incredible over the white dunes, we hiked out of the dunes, and headed out of the park. On the way out we ran into a bit of trouble when we pulled off to the side of the road to grab water, and then couldn’t get out of the sand. Luckily though, a nice couple passing by offered to help us push the car out, and with the extra muscle the car was quickly back on the road, and we were headed to Tucson.
