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Westward...

After a great night’s sleep, I was up early to get sunrise pics at WSNM. Amy wanted to sleep in so I ventured out on my own.

Even though I was up before the sun, the park does not open until 7:00 am. Thankfully, McDs is open before sun rise so I made a pit stop on my way out to the park.

The sun rose at 6:15, so it was already pretty high in the sky by the time the park opened at 7:00. No way to get sunrise pics after the sun had been up that long. Oh well, I was at the park so I would try.

Two other cars were in front of me waiting at the gate. A ranger opened the gate about 5 minutes early. Thank you!! So needless to say, the park was empty. Found some untrammeled sand and took my photos. My calves were burning from walking through the sand the previous day. But a good tired. A bad day photographing is better than …. well, a lot of things! But this was a good day so...there you go.

Quite a formidable line of spikes on the Saguaro.

I went back to the motel, met Amy for breakfast, loaded up and headed out. Onward to Las Cruces and points westward: specifically Saguaro NP. Found out it’s pronounced Sawaro. Not sure about the “g”

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First stop was eastern Saguaro NP. It felt really odd to drive through a residential area, almost a suburban feel, to get to a national park. We checked in at the visitor’s center, found our sticker for the truck, and talked with an incredibly nice and helpful ranger. She pointed out interesting spots for photos and even the best spot for sunset. But it was only 3:30 in the afternoon so we decided to drive across town to the western Saguaro portion of the NP.

The ranger told us about a gorgeous “gateway” drive, Tucson Mountain Park, that was indeed absolutely gorgeous. Tons of people were there taking pics, waiting for sunset, having photos taken and having a good time. Seemed a popular hangout place for all ages. Super nice park and gorgeous drive. Kudos to Tucson!! Well done.

These beautiful blooming flowers were everywhere. Not at all what I expected from a desert.

We left Tucson Mt. Park, which closes at sunset (of course) and found a beautiful spot outside the parks. (the Saguaro grow everywhere so not a big deal to find a great spot.) Sunset was fantastic. Beautiful and deep colors and the weather was perfect. BUT, there are cactuses (cacti?) everywhere and they managed to poke me everywhere, and with the exception of one area of my anatomy, I found and pulled out pokies from all parts. What I couldn’t reach Amy had to extract. She asked if I had been rolling around on the ground. Well…..yeah….kinda….!!

But I got the shot!!

10 tips for photography in a sandy environment

After shooting for several days in White Sands National Monument and in 40 mph winds at Great Sand Dunes NP, I offer a few things to keep in mind when taking photos in these environments. You’ll find many of these apply to shooting photos elsewhere, as well.

Don’t change lenses if at all possible while out in the sand, especially if the wind is blowing. If you have two camera bodies take them both with two lenses you feel will give you the most bang for your buck.
Overexpose since your camera will automatically underexpose
Use a quality polarizing filter
Use your tripod. After huffing up even a mid-sized dune through deep sand it can be difficult to hold your camera still.
Pay attention as you wander among sand dunes, it can be very disorienting once you are out of sight of the road or parking lot.
For sunsets use a graduated neutral density filter to balance the sand and sky
Wear sunglasses, a hat and use sunscreen. The sun gets you from above and reflects back up from the sand.
Drink a lot of water, which means you’ll need to take water bottles or a bladder-type system
Shoot either early or late in the day, not just for great light but to stay out of the intense heat you’ll find in the dunes during summer months.
And finally, from a photographic standpoint, be mindful of where you walk. The sand obviously holds your foot prints til the next wind erases them, so you want to avoid marring the area in which you’ll be shooting.

It was a super windy and cold day at Great Sand Dunes NP. Elevation is more than 8,000’. We caught a break in the clouds.

White Sands National Monument - A beauty!!

Sleep eluded me. I was cold and I just couldn’t get comfortable in the makeshift bed and I am sure the first night sleeping at over 5,700 feet above sea level didn’t help. After a very fitful night’s sleep, the sun finally peaked over the horizon. Daybreak!!! I scrambled out of the camper so fast Amy thought I had to make a run for the bathroom.

I woke to fog shrouding the surrounding mountains. I took my camera and walked a few trails. I was so intent on the mountains around me that I almost walked into a small herd of mule deer. (Twice!) I was within 30 ft or so before I noticed the first group. I had my camera, but I had the wrong lens for a photo, a wide angle so you cannot see the deer at all.

We packed up and drove through absolutely nothing for 90 miles. Beyond the occasional abandoned and decaying buildings along the route, old houses, motels, and other defunct businesses—we both thought it would be near impossible to operate any business along this road, and I guess we were right—there was only a solitary business open and otherwise a whole lot of nothing.

We made it to Alamogordo, NM and Great White Sands Natl. Mon. I honestly didn’t think I’d be too impressed. Wrong! The park was nicely void of people. Not creepy empty but empty enough. One of the great activities at this park is that you can get a sled from the visitor center and slide down the dunes—we saw children and adults alike doing it and all seemed to be having a blast.

After shooting pics for two hours in the early afternoon super-bright sun, make sure you bring your sunglasses, we were ready to head to town to eat and find a motel. We ate at Chili’s, dropped off our suitcases in the motel and headed back to the park for sunset.

Once back at the park, we drove around a bit to find a nice spot and had a wonderful sun set and excellent light. We left the park at 8:20 because at this park they close the gate on you at 8:30 sharp!! See previous blog here.

Before we went into the motel for the night we both dumped out shoe-fulls of sand. Our legs ached so badly from walking through the sand. We both slept great!

Why in the world...?

White Sands National Monument is a beautiful place. Possibly the most beautiful, and certainly most unique, of the parks we visited. All the rangers were nice, the visitor center staff very friendly and helpful, the water from the well tasty and tons of restrooms strewn throughout the park. The following is about the park’s hours only.

Forgive the following gripe session…

As we prepared for our trip, I did a good bit of research on several of the parks we hadn’t visited before, White Sands National Monument in southern NM being one of them. As I looked at photos and read about the park, I had mixed feelings. First, the white sand looked really cool. Second, it didn’t look like it would be super crowded. Third, this place has really dumb operating hours. I am not talking about the visitor center but the actual park, the dunes.

When we visited in early May, the gate opened officially at 7 am and closed at 8:30 pm. Were I coming to the park to go sledding on the dunes or for a quick drive through the park that would be no problem. (But as a photographer these hours just don’t work. Sunrise is at approximately 6:15 am and sunset at 8:10 pm.) Who set these operating hours? Now I get it. I know in the grand scheme of things not everyone wants to be there when the sun is just peaking over the mountains to the east, but by the time you can get to the entrance gate, the sun is already fairly high in the sky and once you make it to the dunes, fughetaboutit! You have very little chance of getting any color in the morning sky.

And sunset? A bit better. Sunset was about 8:10 pm when we were there, so you could, in fact, get the sun going behind the mountains to the west and get some color. But many times that’s just the beginning of the light show. The clouds, if any, will begin to light up and glow. and that’s exactly when you have to pack up and get started on the drive out. We heard a ranger, presumably, driving through the park on a megaphone telling all of us that the park was closing in 20 minutes and it was time to gather our belongings and head to the entrance because they would indeed lock the gate if you weren’t there by 8:30. Not sure the penalty if you didn’t get out on time.

These inane gate times really got under my skin. I asked a few of the rangers about the hours. And just so you know I was very nice when I asked because I was truly curious, and I just heard the official line, those are the hours of the park.

BUT, the park has come up with a solution. In addition to the park entrance fee, you can fill out an application and pay an additional $50 to try and get either an early or late entry into the park. You must go online, fill out an application, wait for approval (if approved) and get an email notification 2-3 weeks after applying. This also boggles my mind. This park wants to charge me extra to come in an hour early or stay an hour late. So many other parks in the NP system are always open. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can come and go as you please. Want to shoot the Milky Way in Arches NP at 2:00 am? Come on in. The gate is up, no one is manning the booth and you can come and go as you please. Oh, one other option is you can camp on the dunes and be there overnight.

A couple possible reason for the odd hours: White Sands National Monument is next door to the White Sands Missile Range and Holloman AFB, both of which may be reasons for the restricted hours. And I can certainly understand that if it is a security issue and they are worried about some sort of terrorism, okay, then yes, we need to be safe. But again, not one of the rangers, nor the NPS website offers these up as reasons for the abbreviated hours. So many other parks are open 24 hours a day and you can enter and exit at your heart’s content. Or is it a budgetary problem? Leave the gate open and the entrance booth unstaffed like so many other parks.

Now you know what to expect. Check the NPS website for operating hours before you go.

So that is the gripe session of the trip. I know, i know it’s really not that big of a deal and not the end of the world - it just bothered me a lot. Now I have vented and am over it.

Thank you

Cold and clear was the night... but mainly cold!

Cold, cold, cold was the night for camping. We had planned for 50+ degree weather overnight (perhaps a bit naively) but it definitely got into the upper 30s, and we shivered through the night…

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After what seemed like forever driving through Texas we make it to Guadalupe NP, which borders New Mexico - north and a bit East of El Paso. This park contains the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, at 8,751 feet above sea level. We are lowlanders from Alabama so we didn’t even think about climbing this one.

We found a camp site right off, which for a Friday we were told was pretty rare. First stop was the visitor’s center to get our sticker for the truck (priorities!) and see what there was to do in the park. But the first thing we both noticed is that they had really, really clean bathrooms. Either a great cleaning staff or they don’t get a lot of visitors, or both.

So what there is do in the park is hike. Lotsa hiking. We headed over to McKittrick Canyon and went, well, hiking. We hiked a mile and decided we’d seen enough and hiked back. It was mid-day sun so not very photogenic in that light. But I hear that in the fall this area is very pretty.

As the sun dropped in the sky, I hiked into the hills around our campground to take photos. I didn’t get the outstanding sunset I had hoped for but I also know it takes a few days away from the daily grind back home to get the other side of my brain working. Hoped it was going to kick in soon!

As the night settled in, I waited for darkness so i could shoot some stars and the Milky Way. But I started to get really cold so I got into the camper and tried to cuddle with Amy to warm up, but she’d have none of that (get your icy hands OFF me!) so I tried to get warm by shivering all night. If we could have built a fire that would have made all the difference, but we basically were on a paved parking lot, so no fires. And the diesel truck with the heat running idling 10 feet from my nearest neighbor wouldn’t have gone over too well. Soooo,.. it was cold.

Next day we were up with sun, had a bit of breakfast and packed up to get rolling. On to White Sands Natl. Monument in New Mexico.

And a hotel for the night!!!!!!