No Chain: White Sands National Park

"Nothing is wasted
And life is worth living
Heaven is nowhere
Just look to the stars
There is a daylight
It's yours for embracing
Everything is nothing
And nothing is ours"

- Hot Chip

We had too much fun at White Sands national park on our off day, the first of 3 national parks we hit in 3 days. Before this trip I had never been to a national park before but I can tell you that it won’t be soon after it that I go to my next. National parks cost exactly $3 to enter and occasionally in the spring and fall they are free (like this entire week) and I can tell you now from experience they are worth every penny. When I think of the crap (I wanted to use another word but I don’t know who all reads this) people spend money on for entertainment I can’t believe our national parks aren’t more crowded, but maybe its better that way. White Sands national park is located at the northern end of the Chihuahua desert and lies in a mountain-ringed valley, the Tularosa basin. For 275 square miles great glistening white sand wave-like dunes can be seen in every direction. If you were blindfolded dropped down in the middle and then asked where you were it would just as easily be confused for Antarctica for how vast and white the sand is. The sand is made of gypsum, a common mineral, but it is rarely found in sand because it is soluble in water. It’s impossible to describe the texture, the 13 med students that I was with couldn’t even come up with anything but it’s somewhere between fine sugar and powder sugar and so cool to the touch even in the heat of the midday desert sun. We found the largest, steepest dune we could and spent the rest of the afternoon sledding, rolling an jumping down it. Sunset was gorgeous as the colors spread across the white sand when the sun dipped behind the mountains that surrounded the basin. We all sat in silence for awhile before we piled back into the van for the 2 hour drive back to our hotel. Totally worth the drive and the money, I hope I can come back again someday. No Chain!