Not actually sure what this is, some historic site to commemorate some people disappearing.

Low distance day – Got to White Sands in the early afternoon and didn’t really have much else planned.   While sitting in the Visitor Centre, I overheard there was camping available in the park.  Since I had been told the place is amazing during the full moon, I thought this was the best I would likely get.

White sands – Whitest place on earth?   But at least visible from space…

Looks lonely out there, doesn’t she?

0.6 mile hike from the trail head to the camp.  How hard could it be?   Silly me.  I took a short hike with pack to the beginning of the loop where GPS coordinates were provided for the sites.  Didn’t seem so tough.

It’s quite amazing what is ‘necessary’ to camp when you have to lug it across the sand.  I resorted to my tent, sleeping bag, thermarest and my misc pack for water and essentials.   Getting back to the sign with the GPS coords was bad enough.  I sat there sweating and squinting at my phone trying to enter the waypoints.   Couple of problems – i don’t actually know how to use my GPS app to navigate.  And 2 – the coords were incorrect on the sign. So after 30 mins of sweating onto my phone, i gave up and just went the old fashioned way.  Wandering across the sand looking for the posts.

Naturally, half of the posts I needed had fallen down.  I would wander over to the next due to where a post ‘should’ have been before I could see it lying on the ground and figure out which way it was pointing.  Eventually did find the post.

Campsite #9 – my stop for the night.

Regulations said you had to set up 5′ from the post, away from the actual dunes themselves.  So I set up right on the marker, then lay inside for the better part of an hour listening to my heart pound and my sweat drip to the base of the tent.   Eventually, I was able to pull myself together and went back to the Visitor Center to fill up on water and catch the Sunset Stroll.

Flowering yucca plant

Little bleached earless lizard hiding.

Sunset!

Notice the camp marker is barely visible at the left of the frame.  The tent was not where I left it!   I guess when all you have inside is a down sleeping bag and a thermarest, there’s not much keeping it in place.

If I ever do something this again, I think the packing on the bike itself would shift to include a quick-release ‘back country’ pack.   And I’d upgrade my tent to something a little easier to carry.