White Sands and Snow

"Somewhere south of that mountain in the distance is Ground Zero, where the atomic bomb was tested in 1945," said Andy, as we drove east on Route #380. Shadowy peaks rose around us in the far distance, but for miles the high valley stretched dry and desolate. We stopped by the road for a picture, and a brown and white steer watched skeptically as I clicked the camera.

A mile later I saw a sign, Trinity Gate. "That's it," said Andy. "It's open two days a year, and the road isn't even on the maps, but that's Ground Zero, probably 20 miles in where the Atomic Age started."

Valley of Fire, a Bureau of Land Management recreation area outside of Carrizozo, developed a mile-long nature trail into the Carrizozo-Malpais lava flow.
One of the most recent flows in New Mexico's geologic history, the 5,000-year old river of pahoehoe basalt, emanated from vents, the last of which, Little Black Peak, pokes up a tiny point on the horizon miles away. The entire flow, two-to-five miles wide and 44 miles long, bubbled and cracked as it cooled into red and black stone, 45 feet deep on an average but as much as 165 feet deep in some places and covering 127 square miles.
"There certainly is a lot of growth on the rock," said Andy, as we walked. "This is the desert, and look at all the plants."

Sotol, mesquite, salt bush and juniper grew abundantly.

"They have had 5,000 years to establish themselves," I answered.

"But still, lava is not a friendly environment," he said.

Just as we read the sign about tarantulas making their homes around nearby yucca roots, a blast shook the earth. We both jumped. "Testing bombs?" commented Andy with a hint of question in his voice. Then we heard the jet engine. "No," he answered, "sonic boom. They have Stealth Bombers at the base in Alamogordo." It must have been test flight time.

"This is the stuff they use to make wallboard," said Andy, as we checked in at the ranger station at White Sands National Monument. "They are gypsum sand dunes."

"They look like snow covered hills with tiny trees poking through," I said.

At Playa Trail exhibit, a 300-foot path led to a gypsum playa, a shallow depression that fills temporarily when it rains. The powder and crystals of gypsum were so white we squinted to near headache intensity.
The mile-long Dune Life Nature Trail tackled the sand head on. After 300 yards, the trail climbed a steep sand slope into the white mounds and interdune environment. Trail side exhibits by Katy the Kitt Fox interpreted life at White Sands for children and adults. We looked for footprints of lizards, kangaroo rats, stink beetles and foxes as we followed the signs.
Interdune Boardwalk, elevated above the sand, introduced the plants and described the wild flowers. Accessible for wheelchairs and strollers, the 325 yards one way ended at the top of a small dune with skunkbushes and hoary rosemarymint, two plants that adapt to shifting sand by capturing grains between tiny roots as the sand around the plants blows away.

I still can't believe how many people are here," said Andy, parking Little Red near Alkali Flat Trail.

The sign said, "If you want to see unvegetated dunes stretching for miles into a beautiful vista and have a wilderness-type experience, this 2.3-mile trail is for you." We signed the register and hiked in about half a mile. This was no place to get lost. But on high dunes around us visitors ran barefoot, slid down embankments on plastic sheets and stomped messages in the fine white grains.

"We came here in 1974," said Andy, as we trudged up one 75-foot pile, "only then it was 110 degrees and we never got out of the car. You were pregnant with Drew at the time."

From the top we stood jacketless in a white Sahara Desert with mountains of sand in every direction. That half mile was enough for "a wilderness-type experience." The flier was right. It was "a beautiful vista" with spring temperatures in January. In the meantime, snow buried the East from Connecticut to Georgia.