Encompassing about 275 square miles of desert aside Holloman Air Force Base between Alamogordo and Las Cruces, New Mexico, White Sands is a procession of dunes on the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert. Instead of the usual sands that make up most dunes, White Sands is comprised mainly of gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) and is an incredibly bright and soft surface, yet one that is relatively easy to walk on.
Despite warnings of snakes and other desert fauna that can be unkind to humans, many people walk through White Sands barefooted. I wore sandals, but after a while I too decided that that no shoes was the way to go. My feet were not cut, scoured and best of all, bitten after a long hike, and indeed, they were hardly even dusty at the end of the day. It was a pleasant hike, even if it is one that is at “altitude” for many folks, like me — I live at sea level, and did notice the thinner air.
Like most dune fields, those at White Sands are mobile — some more so than others. From the entrance, there is the usual desert flora — yucca plants, skunkbush, cottonwood and so forth, but no creosote plants. The further back you go into the park, though, there are fewer and fewer plants on the landscape, and at some point, it is nothing but the sands.
