A Colorado State of Mind: A Whiter Shade of Pale

As I stepped out of our room at the White Sands Motel early Sunday morning desperately seeking coffee I was instantly hit by the relentless bright sun. Today would be another day of sunblock, sunglasses, and lots of water as we were headed to a place with no shade, no water, and stunning, blinding, white sand- White Sands National Monument.

White Sands National Monument has been on my bucket list ever since I saw a picture of it in a travel magazine a few years ago. It didn't know what or where it was, but I knew I had to go there. With average highs in the mid 70s in March and few tourists, Spring Break seemed like the perfect time to visit. White Sands is the largest deposit in the world of gypsum sand which is what makes it so "white". Gypsum sand is water soluble and typically does not collect in large deposits but here in the desert, with no water inlet or outlet sources, the gypsum sand stays and constantly shifts and moves in the form of breathtaking, bright white sand dunes.

To visit White Sands in the middle of the day in full sun takes quite a bit of endurance and persistence. Past the visitor center there are no opportunities for water and very little for shade. We parked and headed out on the Alkalai Flats Trail which is quite deceiving because the trail crosses up and down dunes of significant size. The only way to know exactly where you should be heading into the endless white abyss is to follow orange marker poles that guide the way. After about a mile of barefoot hiking in temperatures flirting with 90 F we came across sort of an oasis in the desert- a huge, hardened mound of sand that stood about 10 feet tall and provided about 3 square feet of shade at its base from the midday sun. We huddled together under the shade and consumed massive amounts of water and handfuls of electrolyte-filled jelly beans. We both admitted defeat and decided it was best to return to the white sands at a more hospitable time.

White Sands is sort of like a new love- only becoming more enchanting and thrilling as the evening wears on. We returned to a totally different scene- warm evening breezes over cool white sand with a surreal bluish glow slowly developing from a lowering sun behind thickening clouds. Giddily we hiked to the tallest dune we could find and set up our tripod. There was not another person in sight as we played around in the sand like kids while observing one of the most mysterious and enchanting sunsets ever. It wasn't so much the spectacular colors of the sky or patterns of the clouds- the magic of this sunset was the aforementioned blue hue on white- not just a blueness to the sky, but an actual blueness in the air, so real and tangible it could be grasped with bare hands. Laying down on the cool sand I felt like the luckiest person in the world to be there at that moment. As the sun set and all breezes died it became so silent I could hear a swoosh, swoosh in my ears, sounding like ancient whispers from the soul of the earth. A moment of perfect stillness and peace.