Brilliant & white

The last time I went to White Sands National Monument was more than 12 years ago. The experience of a sea of white dunes left with me one desire: to go back one day, with a camera. That is what I did last month on a trip to Arizona and the neighboring New Mexico.

Located in the southwest Corner of New Mexico, close to nothing except the ugly town of Alamogordo and the Holloman air force base, White Sands is a natural wonder, wave-lie dunes of gypsum sand that have engulfed some 275 square miles of desert. 

The park is nearby the White Sands Missile Range that still tests experimental weapons and space technology. The road to access it is therefore closed during missile range test, on average twice a week. it is somehow ironic that such beautiful wilderness coexists with elements of destruction. But it does, everlasting and changing with the southwest winds, evermoving dunes that grow, crest and slump.

The most distracting fact about the park is not so much the proximity of a military base but the crowd of visitors who comes to slide on the pristine slopes and left their marks and graffitis on the sand (see below). Finding serendipity is possible, though, once you hike for half an hour or so.  In the heart of the dunes, you can feel for yourself the immensity of the landscape and let your eyes rest on the suble nuances and ondulations of whites and grays. A pure pleasure for the eyes and the mind.

Graffiti on sand