We are relaxing in a great campsite in Hila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. It is a wonderful remote location, hours from anywhere by car. This is our fourth evening here, and I must admit that our journey has not gone as planned. Many of the parks we have visited are near very dusty, somewhat urban areas. Carlsbad and Alamogordo are just not right for us! Other parks have been way south into Texas, and we just did not know where to go. Or maybe the desert is just not right for us either. And we were picking up a new La Casita trailer, they delivered the wrong model, and we were stuck in the deserts of western Texas for two weeks!
But our days here in the Hila Wilderness has renewed our spirits and launched us into a more familiar northern New Mexico state-of-mind”, even though we are far south in the state.
Those feelings were real but White Sands National Monument is exquisite. The sands dunes are extraordinary! Once again on a Sunday, there were hundreds maybe a thousand folks out enjoying themselves. The dunes are awfully close to a US Air Force base, and only minutes from Alamogordo too. Most visitors left a bit early, and there was a bit of time, maybe twenty minutes or so of extreme beauty. I have visited many dunes over my career, and this was my ultimate experience. A time of sunset, a period of purple light in the “blue-hour”, and then the “Worm Moon” rising moon a few minutes later. Margaret and I were in slightly separate locations and I had tears in my eyes! I made my captures, but there was no time to waste, the rangers close the park at eight, the Moon rose at 7:35, I had maybe a twenty-minute walk back to the car in gathering darkness. I was bit late getting out but there were four other cars still there. We slipped away into the night.
All the best!!!