A Line in the Sand

I captured this image at dusk in White Sands National Park, NM in April, 2024.  White Sands covers 145,762 acres of white sands dunes composed of gypsum crystals.  It is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world with a depth of ~30 feet and dunes as tall as 60 feet.  It is completely surrounded by White Sands Missile Range and is occasionally closed due to live-fire missile testing.  The pure white gypsum crystals are highly reflective, making it almost blinding in the midday sun but also create amazing scenes at sunrise and sunset.  The reflective dunes combined with the dust in the air can create endless patterns in pastels.

There are very few marked trails in the park and to capture my images I hiked through the dunes using a GPS-based app on my phone.  I would drop a pin where I parked my car before hiking, mark my path as I hiked out and follow the path on my phone back to my car.  This was essential, because I was also either hiking out in the dark before sunrise or back in the dark after sunset.  The hiking is very challenging due to the heat or cold (depending on the time of day and year), the elevation (4500 ft above sea level), the wind and the deep fine grain gypsum.  This was my first trip to White Sands and I will definitely be returning to this magical place.