Road Trip 2007: Day 2 (Lincoln National Forest and White Sands National Monument)
Originally, our route to Tucson took us south of Carlsbad towards El Paso, Texas, but due to the suggest of someone I know we decided to head north and visit White Sands National Monument. Armed with a set of new directions, we proceeded on our journey.
An hour or so into our trip the elevation began to rise quick as we traveled up through the Sacramento Mountains. The road was abundant with twist and turns that put my stomach into knots. I have with issues with heights, and adding sharps banks at speeds of 50+ miles per hour nauseated me. We reached the height of the mountain and stopped in a town called Cloudcroft, NM for gas and provisions. After filling up the tank we began our decent down the other side of the mountain. As we made our way down we entered in the Lincoln National Forest.
We snapped a few pictures and got back on the road.
Further down the mountain we saw a long a strip of white mass near the mountains ahead. My friend thought what we were seeing was just a mirage, but the it was just to massive to be that. Shortly after we saw signs pointing us toward Whites Sands National Monument, which proved what we were seeing was real.
We arrived at the park and made our way to the information desk to get information on the park and its attractions. Sleds were available in the gift shop to slide down the sides of the sand dunes. They were expensive, but it is something one should do while at the park. And they bought back the sleds at the end of your stay so you don't end up losing too much money. We grabbed our sleds, paid the entrance fee and proceeded through 1.3 miles of white sand.
The sand dunes were massive and walking up them took some effort. On the very top of the dune everything was extremely brights that it took sometime to my eyes to adjust to the light reflecting off the white sand. The view of the dark hazy mountains in the distance against the white sand was worth the squinting. The warm sand between my toes, carefully avoids the fire ants, felt great. After taking in the view, we decided to slide down the dunes. My friend was braver that I was by going a ~75 degree slope, and then proceeded to fall of his sled and somersault backwards down the hill. Fortunately, he was okay ... but I found a more gentle slope to conquer. I got on my sled and got stuck in the sand. I hopped further to the edge of the slope but no progress in sliding. I just went deeper into the soft sand before sliding (slowly) down the hill as my friend and a bystander laughed along with me. Covered in sand, my friend made the observation that were forbidden to take sand out of the park, but we did not have much of a choice when it was lodged in every possible crevasse. After a couple of hours walking along a few trails, we decided it was time to hit the road.
A few hours later ....
We made it to Tucson, AZ. Nothing more to say about that. It looked okay but we decided that it wasn't worth venturing around. A couple of hours prior to our arrival the cities experience a bad monsoon which caused some damaged around the city. We experienced some wind and rain, but nothing too serious.
Dinner at Denny's and the back to the hotel for rest.
Next stop ... San Diego, California.
An hour or so into our trip the elevation began to rise quick as we traveled up through the Sacramento Mountains. The road was abundant with twist and turns that put my stomach into knots. I have with issues with heights, and adding sharps banks at speeds of 50+ miles per hour nauseated me. We reached the height of the mountain and stopped in a town called Cloudcroft, NM for gas and provisions. After filling up the tank we began our decent down the other side of the mountain. As we made our way down we entered in the Lincoln National Forest.
 |
| From Lincoln National Forest Photos |
We snapped a few pictures and got back on the road.
Further down the mountain we saw a long a strip of white mass near the mountains ahead. My friend thought what we were seeing was just a mirage, but the it was just to massive to be that. Shortly after we saw signs pointing us toward Whites Sands National Monument, which proved what we were seeing was real.
We arrived at the park and made our way to the information desk to get information on the park and its attractions. Sleds were available in the gift shop to slide down the sides of the sand dunes. They were expensive, but it is something one should do while at the park. And they bought back the sleds at the end of your stay so you don't end up losing too much money. We grabbed our sleds, paid the entrance fee and proceeded through 1.3 miles of white sand.
 |
| From White Sands National Monument Photos |
The sand dunes were massive and walking up them took some effort. On the very top of the dune everything was extremely brights that it took sometime to my eyes to adjust to the light reflecting off the white sand. The view of the dark hazy mountains in the distance against the white sand was worth the squinting. The warm sand between my toes, carefully avoids the fire ants, felt great. After taking in the view, we decided to slide down the dunes. My friend was braver that I was by going a ~75 degree slope, and then proceeded to fall of his sled and somersault backwards down the hill. Fortunately, he was okay ... but I found a more gentle slope to conquer. I got on my sled and got stuck in the sand. I hopped further to the edge of the slope but no progress in sliding. I just went deeper into the soft sand before sliding (slowly) down the hill as my friend and a bystander laughed along with me. Covered in sand, my friend made the observation that were forbidden to take sand out of the park, but we did not have much of a choice when it was lodged in every possible crevasse. After a couple of hours walking along a few trails, we decided it was time to hit the road.
A few hours later ....
We made it to Tucson, AZ. Nothing more to say about that. It looked okay but we decided that it wasn't worth venturing around. A couple of hours prior to our arrival the cities experience a bad monsoon which caused some damaged around the city. We experienced some wind and rain, but nothing too serious.
Dinner at Denny's and the back to the hotel for rest.
Next stop ... San Diego, California.
Labels: lincoln national forest, photos, road trip, travel, white sands national monument
by Killervirgo @ 1:18 PM| --- Say, what?
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