Leaving Santa Rosa, New Mexico I took Route 54 down and over to the White Sands National Monument. For most of the trip, I drove on desolate roads like these and passed through small towns every 45 minutes or so.
One of the many dunes at White Sands National Monument. The dunes at White Sands are actually made of gypsum, unlike the sand dunes along the coastlines which are made of quartz.
The vertical lines are caused by the winds blowing the grains of gypsum. If you look closely you can also see tracks left by some snakes. The animals at White Sands usually seek cover during the heat of the daytime, so I didn't actually get to see the snake(s) that made these tracks!
The winds actually cause the dunes to move. These yucca plans may appear to be only 8 feet night, but their roots are down at the bottom of this 30-foot dune. As a passing dune begins to bury the yucca, its stem grows rapidly upward so the leaves can remain above the sand...
...however once the dune passes the yucca by, it often collapses under its own weight and dies.
The dunes in the innermost part of the park are pure gypsum -- there is very little of the vegetation seen in the earlier shots.
At White Sands, you don't have to wait for it to snow to go sledding -- you can actually rent out "sledding discs" from the visitor center to ride down the dunes!
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