From White Sands

Day 50: Is that right? Wow, 50 days. How lucky am I to get to do this.

Petrified Forest doesn’t open until 8am so there is no need to get up early, but I wake up at 5am nonetheless. I try to sleep for another hour before getting up.

I break down the tent before eating breakfast and driving the 30 minutes to the park. I get there about 5 till 8 and the gate is still shut. I wait in the turnout with a few other cars for the gate to open and am one of the first few cars in the park.

My first stop is Rim Trail which is a little less than a mile and overlooks badlands below.

Next is a former Pueblo structure now referred to as the Agate House, as well as some petroglyphs.

Following that is the Blue Mesa Loop which is about a mile through a series of badlands.

It’s starting to push towards 90, and the water I filled my bottles with earlier is lukewarm and not at all refreshing.

This park doesn’t have many of the longer trails I’m used to hiking, instead most of the attractions are just off the road, including this natural bridge of petrified wood that was reinforced in the early days of the National Park Service.

I’m now getting into a section of the park with more of the petrified wood. It’s pretty mind boggling to think it is millions of years old, yet still here. It’s a good perspective to have on just how short our time on earth is.

My final stop is the southern terminus of the park where I do a couple loop trails totaling 3 miles.

Before leaving the park I make a sandwich for the road. It’s a five hour drive down to Tucson and I’m on my way a little after noon.

On the way down I’m able to catch up with my nephew as well as a few other friends who made the drive fly by and I make it to my AirBnb just after 5:30. The entrance hall is lined with books and I spend a few minutes admiring the host’s collection.

The tv can’t connect to the internet, so that’s a bummer, but I’ve spent most of the past 7 weeks without it and don’t feel like I’m missing much.

Still trying to plan out tomorrow. One of my former coworkers used to live in Tucson and sent me a handful of recommendations for the city. Should be a fun day no matter what I do.

Day 51: I could get used to waking up in a bed. I even have my own bathroom that I don’t have to put shoes on to get to. Fancy.

Even with blackout curtains my body knows when the sun comes up, so I’m out of bed by 5.

First on the agenda is an approximately 8 mile hike in Saguaro National Park to Wasson Peak. After a 45 minute drive I get to the parking lot just after 6 and eat some breakfast in time to start at 6:30. There are a couple other guys in the parking lot, but one is planning to run the trail, the other is doing a different route.

The trail is surrounded by large cacti for whom the park is named. There are also some smaller prickly plants that are closer to the ground and immediately adjacent to the trail.

I have to watch my footing more than most hikes, so I don’t get a massive splinter.

While I’m partial to hiking in the mountains there is a beauty to the desert, especially one like this that boasts so much life.

Less than 3 miles in the trail runner is coming back down the trail complaining about the heat. It’s not yet 8, and far from the warmest part of the day. He must not be used to heat.

Undeterred I continue up the trail knowing I’m on my own out here. It’s cool feeling to have such a large place all to yourself. I do my best to soak it in.

Some friends mentioned in a group chat in the way up that it was Harry Potter Day (his birthday is July 31 in the book/movie), so I celebrate in the log book at the peak.

Although, it’s smaller than some of the others I’ve been on it provides a 360 view of the surrounding area.

On the way down I brush one of the small cactus with my shoe and stop to take the thorn out. It didn’t get me bad through the shoe, but is a good reminder to stay alert the rest of the way.

There is only one other hiker on the way down, which goes relatively quickly. I’m back in the car before 9:30 and head to the visitor center. I catch the last couple minutes of a ranger program and fill up on some warm water before driving a loop trail in the park that wasn’t much different than where I hiked.

Feeling like I saw most of what I could see I decided to check out the University of Arizona. I love visiting college campuses, especially stadiums.

One downside to visiting in the summer is there are so few students that it feels like a ghost town. Nevertheless, it’s still a nice campus.

After completing a loop through campus, I pack a sandwich for the drive over to Mount Lemmon on the other side of town. A former coworker, Ben, who went to school at U of A and used to live in Tuscon recommended visiting.

The drive to the top takes about 1.5 hours, but is pretty cool. The top is at 8,500 feet and the mountain has several different climate zones you drive through from the Sonoran Desert at the base to the conifer forest at top. It’s also 30 degrees cooler at the top, which is a welcome relief from the 100+ degree heat.

After walking for much of the morning I decide on a shorter 2 mile loop hike.

It has a great view of the other mountains as well as the city.

After the hike I spend a while at the top catching up on some correspondence and enjoying the cool mountain air before heading back to the desert below.

For dinner, Ben recommended El Carro which was established in 1922 and is one of the oldest family owned Mexican Restaurants in the country.

Fajitas are one of my favorite foods and these may have been the best I’ve ever had. These are especially good as I have not had many opportunities to eat fresh veggies on this trip.

Following dinner I head back to the AirBnB to get ready for bed.

Day 52: Even with blackout curtains my body is in rhythm with the sun and I’m up around 5, which is good because I have a five hour drive and a time change to contend with before getting to White Sands National Park.

It’s crazy how a five hour drive now feels routine. All it takes is a few FSU football podcast episodes and a call with my mother to get me to the park. Still, even with departing Tucson before 5:30, it is almost 12 by the time I get there and the temps are rising.

I stop by the visitor center long enough to confirm that there is sand here, and science can explain it if you’re interested in that type of thing. I’m more eager to get out and hike and start driving to my trailhead. The park is not large and my trailhead is at the back, so I get to complete the entire drive passing several smaller trails and picnic areas along the way. There are also sledders out, similar to Great Sand Dunes National Park which I visited back in June (seriously, was that the same trip?). However, I’m more determined to hike through the dunes this time, and after making and eating a sandwich I am on my way. I’m doing the Alkali Flats Trail, which is a 4.5 mile loop through the dunes. It’s rated as only moderately challenging, but with temps now pushing 90, it will be a fun challenge for the day.

The sign at the trailhead offers some tips as well as encouragement and I greatly appreciated the support.

The beginning was a little foreboding as there are no trail markers in sight, but there are footprints and another hiker in front of me so I’m not too worried (also, the parking lot is still in sight behind me).

About 10 minutes in the first trail marker appears and the next couple are also in sight. I have much greater faith in these and any concern about getting lost faded away.

With that concern behind me I’m free to enjoy the beauty of the white sands. This week is the first I’ve really missed home and even though Tallahassee isn’t on the beach it feels closer to Florida than I’ve been in almost two months.

The halfway point is the edge of the park that is adjacent to the White Sands Missile Testing Site. It’s still an active military facility, but is most well known as the home of the Trinity test site.

The rest of the hike goes fairly smooth. The scenery doesn’t change much on the dunes.

I could see one hiker in front of me for most of the hike, but I can tell I’m getting close to the end when a few others appear.

Then I cross over the last dune and the parking lot is in site. The sand boarders who were there earlier are now gone, likely somewhere inside. I’d like to spend longer in the park, but there isn’t much shade to be had and what little there is does not provide much relief. Instead of hanging around longer I head to my Airbnb in Alamogordo about 20 minutes away.

It’s just before 3 when I arrive a little sandy, and very sweaty. I forget Rule #1 and leave my shoes on as I enter the house. The host walked me in and quickly reminded me. Not a great start, but she warmed up to me and even let me borrow some Tide Pods to wash my clothes.

After laundry my host asked if I had any dinner plans and offered to cook me dinner. We had some great tacos (really just decent, but I didn’t have to cook, so we’ll say they’re great).

After hearing many stories about bad guests, I headed to bed with plans to catch sunrise at White Sands.