Sunset on the sand dunes can be special. Sunset on white sand dunes with a gusting windstorm is even more.

Just before the pandemic lockdown shut all travel, I had ventured out to White Sands National Monument. My previous trip had been more than 9 years prior, and I had longingly looked forward to this trip. I had planned on camping in the sand dunes as I knew the landscape would turn spectacular at sunset and sunrise.

As luck would have it, the forecast called for gusts of winds up to 20mph which I knew would make for a poor camping experience with sand everywhere. But there was a silver-lining to this: a layer of undisturbed white sand stretching for miles and lending to unique compositions that I would find nowhere else.

What I eventually witnessed as I scrambled from site to site, hunting for new compositions, was beyond extraordinaire. I lucked out with the right combination of weather, light and location in this unique corner of New Mexico.

White Sands National Monument

NM USA