White Sands National Park

Finally made my way back to New Mexico to check out the newly named White Sands National Park. One thing I’ve loved about this journey is that I am often surprised by places that really don’t get much attention. I planned my trip duration before I read a bunch of blogs and when I started seeing things like “you can see it in a few hours” I was nervous I might get bored. But nothing could have been further from the truth! If all you want to do is see it – then yeah you can do it in a few hours. But if you want to really experience it you need to stay for a few days!

As I was driving to the park in the morning I glimpsed something off the side of the road. I did a quick U-turn and came back to see these creatures on the side of the road eating some breakfast. I will admit I had never even seen one of these animals before! I had to google the name – Oryx. I also read the very amusing stories of how they came to be in New Mexico.

Once they moved on, I started off my first day in the park hunting down some undisturbed dunes! I love the cool patterns the wind makes in the sand.

There are a few different trails in the park. This was the nature trail closer to the beginning of the park. It was bizarre to me to see any trees in this vast dune field. The root system was exposed and it kind of reminded me how much of a tree is usually underground.

Had a great time photographing the wildlife I could find. I like this picture because this bird was looking right at me!

These beetles made the coolest designs in the sand when they walked. I saw them everywhere and thought it must be a snake or some other critter until I saw this one crawling around near some bushes

Another highlight from the trip was getting to see the World’s largest pistachio ;). Took a tour of a local farm and got some excellent ice cream. Learned a few new things – one of which is that pistachio trees are picky about where they can grow!

I came back to the park every night I could to watch the sunset. It truly didn’t disappoint. Once night was the best because there were enough clouds in the sky. I read about this tree on a blog, so I spent some time searching the dunes for it. They said it could be hard to find a “hero” for pictures in White Sands, and that this tree would work well. I’ve never heard that expression before, but I will admit the tree silhouetted by the sunset was very striking!

Found a few other “heroes” in the area

This next one if one of my favorites! It reminds me of an old Windows background. Sky has so much depth with all the clouds.

This was my only selfie so figured I would throw it in. Me enjoying the sunset views.

Mysterious footprints off into the unknown. Jk they were mine 🙂 but still looked cool!

This was the state park I found to do some night time photography. I scoped it out during the day so I wouldn’t have to stumble around in the darkness. I wasn’t expected it to be so pretty! Found myself pitching my chair and reading a book while I soaked in the views.

Still working on editing some photos – but here is one from that night!! Loved seeing the milky way again. I was hoping to get some more foreground in the picture – but it was too windy and everything was blurred. Did capture a small sliver of the mountain side!

I really enjoyed white sands national park. Might visit again when they re-open the back-country campsites so I can photograph the milky way with the sand dunes!!