From the Grand Canyon (AZ) to our next destination we drove 2 ½ days, in which we covered almost 900 km, until we reached the "Land of Enchantment" on Wednesday, August 17th, 2022
and a day later the White Sands National Park.
Like a glittering sea of sand, White Sands rose in front of us from the heart of the Tularosa Basin in the New Mexico desert. The special thing about these huge undulating dunes is that they are made of gypsum sand. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulphate) that forms these unusual dunes originates from the western part of White Sands from an ephemeral lake with a very high mineral content. When the water evaporates, the minerals remain, which subsequently form gypsum deposits. These are carried away by the wind and form the white sand dunes that are so typical here. You have to look twice at photos, you could easily think it was snow.
Although hiking through this white natural wonder was out of the question for me, I was able to enjoy the radiant sight during the Dune Drive.
The 13 km long park road offered a number of parking and picnic areas, but after about 2 hours we had seen everything there was to see - namely enough white sand. We treated ourselves to dinner (best steak since our road trip) at Y'alls Steakhouse-Alamogordo before spending the night in a quiet place on the outskirts. The next day consisted mainly of driving, driving and driving... almost 550 km through New Mexico.
As on many other days, I researched a parking lot on Google to see if we could and wanted to spend the night there. On our route, right off the highway (but far enough away to avoid road noise), the Angels Peak Trail was right there. Where there is a trail, there is usually a place to park, so I said let's go there.
When I arrived I couldn't believe my eyes, we had a canyon all to ourselves... not a soul in sight. What an awesome view. My first thought was: I have to get the drone up BEFORE it gets dark! Said and done. Full of anticipation, I unpacked it, prepared everything and started the app. The start screen opened briefly, but then the app immediately closed again. I tried at least 20 times. With every unsuccessful attempt, my anger grew. Damn sh…. Now here we are in such an incredible place where flying drones is not forbidden and then the damn… drone doesn't work! I tried to find out what the problem could be with the help of the internet, apparently others had had the same issue before. The solution: download the new DIJ version. Easier said than done with this miserable data connection; after 15 minutes I had downloaded 2%. I tried stubbornly anyway. But again and again the download was terminated due to the bad connection and then it started all over again. I was insistent, but that night I had to admit defeat. Though hope dies last! When I woke up in the morning, I was lucky: Download successfully completed! Even before brushing my teeth, my drone was allowed to conquer the canyon. Incredibly great shots came out of it, which of course I love to share with you guys.
And now buckle up, the flight over Angels Peak is about to begin.