grösste Gipsdünenfeld in der Welt

Last week I started my migration to Virginia. Along the way I stopped at White Sands, which was a two or three hour detour from Las Cruces. Anyone travelling on I-10 should make this side trip. After all, who knows if I'll ever make it back to New Mexico?

White Sands was incredible. It's not normal silica-based sand, but residual gypsum. It erodes from the surrounding mountains when it rains, crystallizes when the water evaporates on the plains, and then turns into sand dunes as the wind blows through the valley. Even though it was 110 F, the sand reflects enough sunlight that it's cool to the touch. You can hike around barefoot and I saw some people with toboggans sliding down the dunes. There were a lot of Germans there too (das grösste Gipsdünenfeld in der Welt)! It was certainly a surreal scene.