June 27th – it was my birthday! Although we spent the day travelling, we did go out to eat once we arrived in Alamogordo, NM and set up camp. On our way back from dinner it was raining and we saw a double rainbow going over the Sacramento Mountains. Our campsite at Oliver Lee Memorial campground was amazing. We just kept driving toward the Mountains and the tiny white specks in the foothills turned out to be our destination.

Oliver Lee was a fantastic campground. Our site had water and electric and was well kept. There were many mountain trails as well as historical exhibits and even a desert garden. Someday I want to make it back here to explore.

The next morning we visited White Sands National Park. The bright white gypsum sand was surprising, it was cool to the touch and very fine. To get to the park, we had to pass through the Holloman Air Force Base. Sometimes the park is closed because the military is conducting missile testing. This added to the alien feel of the landscape. We hiked a short trail to the Playa – there we saw salt-encrusted footprints from humans and animals that had walked the playa recently.

We also hiked the Dune Life Nature trail which highlighted the flora and fauna of this desert area. The interpretive signs along the way were weathered, sun-bleached, and cracking – a great, if unintentional, demonstration of the harshness of life in the desert.

All the trails were accessible along the Dunes Drive, an 8 mile long scenic drive right through the park. Another place we stopped was the Interdune Boardwalk. This was an easy walk along a maintained boardwalk. We were able to find some little white lizards, they were very tricky to spot on the bright white sand!

We enjoyed our morning in White Sands National Park and found it to be very accessible. The Dunes Drive connected the points of interest and there were several levels of difficulty among the different stops and trails. We headed back to camp for lunch and to pack up. Our next stop – Carlsbad, New Mexico!