Day 194, Wednesday, December 14

Setting up camp last night at Las Cruces KOA was a challenge. The temps weren’t bad, but there was so much wind that I had to stake out each stage of tent assembly. They claim to have the best view in Las Cruces as a result of being on a bluff up above the city, but by being on the bluff they are also right in the path of the strongest winds.
From Las Cruces, I rode to White Sands National Monument for a desert hike. I’d intended to hike around in White Sands for a while, then head to Roswell to see if I could find an alien figurine to stick on the motorcycle’s dash board, before heading on down to Carlsbad. Having hiked in the sand dunes of Death Valley, I expected to really enjoy the Whites Sands experience. When I first set out hiking through the dunes, I found them as beautiful as I’d expected. There were the same watercolor landscape hues I found in Death Valley, but where the sand in Death Valley was tan, this sand was stark white. It made the shadows even more intense than those I’d seen in Death Valley. One thing I’d not experienced at Death Valley was the incredible amount of sand movement present at White Sands. Each dune was covered by a fine, half inch deep mist of blowing sand grains. The movement of the sand gave the dunes a fluid sparkle as the grains reflected the light of the sun.
One of the interesting factoids I learned is that the water table is only about 5 feet below the troughs of the dunes. This means that even out in the middle of the dune fields, there are plants thriving. As the dunes encroach on the native plants their stems grow rapidly and actually allow the plants to ride up the face of the dune. As the dune passes, the elongated stems of the plants get exposed and the plants die. Most of the plants native to the desert are extremely conservative in their use of ground water. As the dunes pass over none of the native plants are able to stabilize enough sand to prevent their elongated stems from being bared to the drying wind. There is, however, an invasive species of bush, imported from Asia, which has started to establish itself in the dunes. The problem with this plant isn’t with its ability to stabilize enough sand to prevent death when the dune passes, but rather with its incredibly poor use of water. The plants send extremely long and thick roots deep into the water table, and due to their inefficient use of water (much more evaporates from their leaves than from the leaves of the native plants) they are drastically lowering the water table. While I was there I passed a park ranger whose job it was to go out and destroy as many clumps of this plant as possible.
What I didn’t take into account as I set out across the dunes was the combination of a different mind set (I wanted to see the dunes for a just a little while before heading out) and the overwhelming size of the White Sands dune fields. About half way into my hike, I was surprised to find that my sensation of enjoyment gave way to a sense of being overwhelmed by the size of the desert around me. I became immediately aware how it must feel to be stuck in a desert rather than just visiting it. Completing my hike became a task with a pressing goal rather than a leisurely stroll through a beautiful landscape.Leaving White Sands, I headed East through Roswell. The road was utterly without interest and I got to Roswell just before dark. Since the temps were dropping rapidly, I decided to head on South to Carlsbad with the goal of returning to Roswell tomorrow.