One of the wonders of the world is White Sands National Monument. The famous dunes encompass 275 square miles of desert and is the world's largest gypsum dunefield. . The pure gypsum that forms these unusual dunes originate from an ephemeral lake or playa with a very high mineral content. As the water evaporate, the minerals are left behind to form gypsum deposits that eventually are wind-transported to form these white sand dunes.
We first stopped at the very nice Visitor Center. As we started driving through the park, we remarked it was like driving through the mountains after a snowfall.
Some species of plants can survive burial by a moving dune by a process called "stem elongation." As the sand rises, the plants quickly grow upward to keep their leaves above the rising sand .
There is plenty to do here, hiking trails and guided tours, including a sunset tour every night. Also one area looks like a day at the beach without water. There are groups of people picnicking with kids sliding and surfing down the dunes.
New Mexico's parks seem very pet friendly and Savannah was able to go into the park and on trails as well. It was pretty warm today and below is picture of her taking a water break.
A fascinating place and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Our timing was good as the next day was windy and wouldn't have been much fun with sand blowing everywhere. Sunday we leave for Brantley Lake, the next leg of our New Mexico adventure.
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