YOLO White Sands to Hatch, NM Jan 2022

 I'd never been to White Sands, NM and the name to me was associated with a missile range.  The missile range is still there, but the white sand dunes were a spectacle I hadn't expected.  We watched the film at the Visitor Center, filled our water bottles there and headed into the national park.  Our Lifetime Senior Pass again comes to the forefront and we were waved in at no charge.

The road looks like it is lined with snow, but it is pure white sand.  They still have to use plows to keep it off the roads.

We'd been told by another couple that the Alkali Flat Trail was the best. It is a 5-mile loop with the highest dunes and the least vegetation in the national Park.  I packed us lunch for the 3-hour hike and we set off across the white expanse in the cool of the morning. 

Karen posing at the beginning of the hike.  I'd just about had a heart attack climing the first dune--a steep, soft one--and was ready to quit, but Jason cajoled me into continuing.

These dunes have an otherworldly look to them sometimes.

Jason munching on the sandwiches we carried for our lunch.  Hiking for hours in sand really works up an appetite and thirst.

Coats were off by the time we returned to YOLO, there in the corner of the parking lot.

I felt a bit bedraggled by the hike, but was glad we'd done it.

We seen this turnoff by the water on our way into the park and came back to see about parking here for the night.  What a find!  Other van lifers/overlanders had also discovered this place.  Just find a level spot and call it your own.

The full moon was coming up in one direction.....

while this sunset was going down looking in the other direction.  Awesome!!

Jason in the van getting ready to do the dishes.  I cook and he's supposed to clean up.

The sunset this night just wouldn't quit.

The colors in several different directions were fabulous.

Such a pretty end to the day.

We enjoyed it so much, we decided we'd go back and do a shorter hike the next day, Since we got in for free with our park pass, we drove back and did the Dune Life Nature Trail.  Any live nature would be long gone, what with all the folks traipsing about every day.

A lonely tree in the vast desert of white sand.

Some folks brought their snow discs to sled down these dunes.  Those tiny dots are people at the bottom of this steep dune.  We had a blast dune walking down the sides of the dunes, and my shoes got so full of sand I couldn't walk.

Some cool rocks I found along the way once we left White Sands.  Too big to keep, according to Jason, so I just took a picture and left them.  Sigh......

We read about a hidden slot canyon along our route and parked the van and scouted the area.  It was too late in the day to hike into the brush, so I rockhounded for a while (pic above) and then we parked along a ravine a bit further down the road for the night.  We came back to the spot where we'd seen cars parked along the side of the road the next morning and went in search of the canyon.

Jason at the mouth of the slot canyon.

The walls were steep and the passage narrow.

The walls were just layers of rocks, dirt and rubble.

Karen looking up in the slot canyon.

Water just carved this steep-sided gully though the soft rock.

We met a man and his dog also going through the canyon.  He was a bounty hunter and we tagged along with him a while.  His mapping skills faltered a bit near the end so we just struck out in the direction we thought would get us back to the van.

A view from the top of the canyon.  The van is out there somewhere.....

A cool barrel cactus reminds us to stay hydrated.  We are in a desert, after all.

We finally got to Hatch and followed the directions from Shirley to get to the wash near the quarry where they'd had good luck finding interesting rocks decades ago.  We must've been in the right place because as I stepped out of the van, I spied a rabbit's foot--good luck.

The further I wandered, the more pretty rocks I found that I wanted to keep and carry home.  I knew better, and that I Love Lucy episode where she hides the rocks in the trailer kept coming to mind. But I just couldn't leave them all behind.  I narrowed it down to these two big rocks (they looked much prettier in person) and left the rest behind.  Thanks Dee and Shirley for sharing your spot!  I'd go back in a heartbeat.  As it was, I ended up mailing two boxes of rocks home to get the weight out of the van.  Well worth it to me, but Jason just shakes his head.

We'd finally made it to Hatch!

We left Hatch a few pounds heavier, but with one item crossed off my bucket list.