December 27, 2022
We leave camp early to be at the park for 9 am to avoid the crowds.
Today we want to do the Alkali Flat Trail (8km). This trail is classified as strenuous as you have to climb steep sand dunes up and down. It has claimed lives before but this tend to be at the height of summer when the heat can quickly overcome you. There are numerous signs highlighting the danger of heat exhaustion and advising to carry extra water. There is no danger of that for us in December.
The trail is easy to follow thanks to red marker posts at regular intervals though you are advised to turn back if for any reason you cannot see the next post as it may be down or covered by sand.
The dune field covers a vast area: 275 square miles with 115 square miles (about 40%) located within White Sands National Park. The remainder is on military land that is not open to the public.
This dune field is very dynamic, with the most active dunes moving to the northeast at a rate of up to 30 feet per year, while the more stable areas of sand move very little. The pure gypsum that forms these unusual dunes originates in the western portion of the park from an ephemeral lake or playa with a very high mineral content. As the water evaporates (theoretically as much as 80″ per year!), the minerals are left behind to form gypsum deposits that eventually are wind-transported to form these white sand dunes. Many species of plants and animals have developed very specialized means of surviving in this area of cold winters, hot summers, with very little surface water and highly mineralized ground water.
The trail ends at the edge of the Flat.The Alkali Flat is the dry lake bed of Lake Otero, a lake that filled the bottom of the Tularosa Basin during the last ice age and covered 1,600 square miles. The Flat which mark the border with military grounds is a no-go area. There are regular missile launch and testing when the whole area including the public part of the Park is closed for safety reason.
[click on the picture to open gallery]
We then drove on to Oliver Lee State Park. This is one of the parks where you take an envelope at the entrance, drive around the campgrounds, find a place, fill your details and camp number on the envelope, put the fee in the envelope and then post it in a special box at the entrance. This is a nice campground with water and hot showers and only $10.
