White Sands National Park

 Today we visited the White Sands National Park. We were here once before in 2006 and then it was White Sands National Monument. The winds were up to 35 MPH and so the shelter of a car was much preferred to hiking. However, we did get out and walked the boardwalk that is in one area of the park.

Barn Swallow

We took a walk down this boardwalk

Even in these severe conditions, a purple flower is blooming in the desert!

The sand in places has been blown into different patterns as is the case with the picture above and the picture below.

That isn't cloud above the dunes. It is the sand being blown into the air by the wind!

Normally there are a lot more people sledding down the dunes but this wind has kept them away!

We are heading back to the highway and the clouds ahead of us are still blowing sand because of the high winds today.