new mexico

Lines in the Sand

Mother Nature's fingerprint at White Sands National Park. The delicate lines on the dunes at dawn are a mesmerizing reminder of the ever-changing desert landscape. Witnessing the hues in the sand transition to warm to cool colors at dusk, and reverse again at dawn, was a big factor to decide to camp in the park. And it was worth every ounce of sand I discovered in the tent and backpack thereafter.

White Sands National Park
NM USA

Into the Maw

Hiking into the heart of the Carlsbad Caverns, I entered a nether region of other-worldly shapes, sounds and sights. Sounds of other tourists shuffling over echoed through the hallowed halls and the narrow passageways while the artful lighting converted thin pillars of stalactites and stalagmines to the monstrous jaws of an extra-terrestial creature. Curtains and wedges of limestone dangled delicately from the ceiling, growing slowly but steadily with every drop of water dripping down to the nether reaches below.

Such were the thoughts that ran through my mind as I walked through this surreal space.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park
NM USA

The Dark Lord Rises

Every October, some of the most fanciful balloons gather in the high desert landscape of New Mexico. Chariots and lighthouses fly shoulder to shoulder with bees, dogs, hearts, and the occasional Vader. I wish I could go back and relive my time there.

Albuquerque
NM USA

A Mammoth Aperture

A Mammoth Aperture
Carlsbad Caverns is one of those off-beat National Parks that get visited only by a determined few. For me, the biggest draw has been descending to the depths of the cavern through the natural entrance. While it was still a sanitized caving experience, I still enjoyed the change in scenery as I dropped below the ground level. The humidity and temperature fluctuations led to water vapor getting caught in various pockets of the cave, lending an eerie atmosphere which I tried to capture here.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park
NM USA

A National Parks Journey - White Sands National Park

On my feed, I have often waxed poetry about White Sands, which I had first visited when it was still a National Monument. Sheer white sand dunes of the type found in White Sands National Park take on otherworldly hues at the magic hours of sunrise and sunset. And since the park is open only from an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset, the only way to experience the magic hour is to camp between the dunes. Doing so requires contending with freezing temperatures and billowing winds, desert bugs and wildlife, and lack of any water. But the reward is the ability to shoot at the golden hours.

After grabbing dinner, it is time to take up the camera and shoot the dunes before night sets in. And while the evening light brings on yellow, and later pink hues on the sand, I prefer shooting the dunes before sunrise when the dunes take on a blue tone reflecting the deep blue desert sky of New Mexico. It also helps that the winds blowing through the night ensure that the fresh ripples in the sand constitutes a new canvas ready for another day of painting by the light.

Even though I have been there twice, this place has enraptured my heart so much that I would never refuse another night of camping in the dunes.

White Sands National Park
NM USA

A National Parks Journey - Carlsbad Caverns National Park

I always thought of caves as a dark and dank place that I hope I would never get caught in without a source of light. Spelunking, or cave exploration clearly wasn't my thing. But walking through the open gaping hole in the earth down to its inner depths along an artistically lighted walkway that highlighted the classic limestone formations of a cave - the tall stalagmites and the dangling stalactites and straws, towering columns and thin curtains. The walkway wove through a profusion of such formations in the karst-laden cave, formed when acidic rainwater slowly dissolved naturally occurring limestone over thousands of years.

And even though I enjoyed my first, and subsequent visit, my irrational fear of caves still remain. This fear was reinforced when, on one of the guided trips, the ranger cut power to all the lights, leaving us tourists to bathe in darkness.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park
NM USA

Black and White Sands

A late afternoon dust-storm picks up fine sand from the dunes of White Sands National Park. This National Park, tucked within two mountain ranges of New Mexico, hosts the largest sand dunes made of gypsum sand that looks like snow, but flows like salt. Finer than regular sand, frequent windstorms easily pick up the pearl white dunes, erasing footprints of days past, leaving being sharp ripples that move every single day.

Due to the constantly shifting dunes, there are no fixed trails here, except for a series of markers for directional guidance. And even though they are small, it is easy to wander and get lost amidst the vast expanse of the dunes. But that shouldn't deter you from making a visit to this unique park in the desert southwest.

White Sands National Park
NM USA

Of Sandstorms and Windy sunsets

One of the country's newest National Parks has something going for it that no other place on this planet can lay a claim on - the largest gypsum sand basin. And that lends this place a surrealism like no other. While most visitors only spend the daylight hours here, the time for photography in this place when the sun crests below the San Andres mountains, and the predawn hours when everything lays still.

At sunset, in the shadow of the mountains, the white sands take on an unnatural blue hue, which, combined with strong winds at dusk, lend an ethereal soft glow to the undulating striations on the dunes. And on those rare occasions, all these happen with a sky lighting up for sunset, like in this scene above.

This park holds within it many such unique photographic opportunities, and I really do hope I can get back there, if only to spend one more night at this amazing National Park

White Sands National Park
NM USA

Azure Crystals

I find the ripples of the sand dunes quite fascinating: the patterns are ever so numerous, but often gets lost in the vastness of the dunes and the angle of light. But early in the morning, even the tiniest of lines on the sand becomes patterns onto themselves. That is what I seek out every time I am in the dunes.

An early morning in February found me amidst the dunes of White Sands National Park. I was hunting to find the right location where the lines were highlighted by the rising sun. In the gentle pre-dawn light under the deep-blue morning sky, the white sand took on an ethereal hue, slowly changing through different shades of blue as the sun rose up. I knelt down to capture the lines of shadow and light stretching in front of me.

White Sands National Park

NM USA

Light on the Sands

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