The Stark Beauty of White Sands, New Mexico

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Category: Camping Gems

Created on Tuesday, 03 March 2009 20:12

Last updated on Thursday, 12 March 2009 19:31

Published on Tuesday, 03 March 2009 20:12

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The Stark Beauty of White Sands, New Mexico

The stark beauty of shifting white sands and shadowy dunes makes White Sands National Monument an unforgettable southwestern destination. Gleaming white gypsum sands stretch across this scenic corner of New Mexico, drawing photographers, filmmakers, artists, and nature lovers. And with a host of other attractions right nearby, this makes the perfect center for your New Mexican adventure.

Begin your trip in the quiet town of Alamogordo, set on NM highway 54. The Chihuahuan Desert ranges through this area from White Sands at the north, into Mexico to the south. The echoes of Old Mexico are everywhere here from the adobe houses to the colorful festivals and blended language. From Alamogordo, you can travel to the southwest through White Sands National Monument, taking in the stunning white dunes of the Tularosa Basin. Covering more than 275 square miles, these dunes are constantly shifting with the desert winds. If photography is your passion, visit the dunes during early morning and evening, when the setting sun casts dramatic shadows across the landscape.

From White Sands, Highway 70 will take you to the nearby city of Las Cruces, a popular place for outdoor sports like golf, tennis, hiking, and fishing. Las Cruces has spectacular views of the Organ Mountains and Rio Grande River as well as special festivals, shopping, and the zesty flavors of Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking. This New Mexico city is home to the War Eagles Air Museum, fabulous wineries, farmer’s markets, and unique craft fairs. Head there for incredible get-togethers like the September Whole Enchilada Festival, the November Mariachi Festival, or the January Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally when hot-air balloons fill the blue desert sky. Las Cruces also offers the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and historic Fort Selden State Monument, a great place for a picnic lunch. Wine is an important part of this region’s culture and economy, where they celebrate wine festivals every year in April, May, September, and October.

Traveling south from Las Cruces along Interstate 10, you’ll pass Aquirre Springs National Recreation Area, a great place for hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, bird watching, and other sports. Farther south you’ll find the exotic border town of El Paso with its phenomenal restaurants, shopping, and sites. El Paso is a world unto itself, where cowboy boots and ten-gallon hats blend with Mexican bakeries and salsa dancing. From El Paso, it’s easy to take a short trip across the border into Juarez Mexico, or “Ciudad Juarez,” for south-of-the-boarder shopping and tourism.

East of El Paso along Interstate 62 (or Texas Highway 180) lies the world-famous Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Set in a dramatic desert landscape, these caverns include the largest underground cave in the world. Be sure to plan a visit during dusk or dawn to see the amazing Bat Flight program when hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats fly through the aky. Visitors can take a self-guided tour of the big cavern or follow a guide into Lechuguilla Cave, America’s deepest limestone cave (1,567 feet deep). Kids will enjoy the park’s five labs with their hands-on activities and exhibits.

If your travels take you back into New Mexico, be sure to stop at Elephant Butte Reservoir State Park for a day of swimming, boating, and fishing. For more adventures in West Texas, you can go gem hunting Rockhound State Park, set in the beautiful Florida Mountains.

Wildflower Walks

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Category: New To Do

Created on Thursday, 26 February 2009 23:34

Last updated on Thursday, 12 March 2009 19:21

Published on Thursday, 26 February 2009 23:34

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Wildflower Walks

Spring unfolds like a flower, glinting and lovely. For flower lovers, this is a time of year to celebrate. From the day the first crocus or daffodil appears, the best time of year begins. With such a range of blooms to see and smell – bulbs, annuals, perennials, and tree blossoms – you’ll find no shortage of glories as you go about your spring travels.

Getting Started

This year, why not try something new? If you know garden flowers like the palm of your hand, then this is a great time to learn about their wild cousins. A Wildflower Walk can be a fantastic way to relax in the woods, soaking up wisdom from your trail guide and picking up tips from your fellow hikers. Many national and state parks, as well as botanical gardens, offer flower-identifying walks, allowing you to experience the wild blooms of a new part of the country – or right in your own backyard!

Knowing the names of local buds and blooms can make you feel more involved in the locale you’re visiting – it’s like making a new friend in the area. Suddenly your scenic drives will turn into a chance to spot your new buddies, the Cone Flowers and the purple Lupine. You’ll come to associate different parts of the country with their flowers, from the Colorado Columbine to the California Poppy.

Campers from the east who visit the west will be tickled by the number of “false” plants they encounter that are similar to plants at home. Early pioneers, familiar with the blooms of the eastern seaboard, named flowers after what they remembered from their home states. As a result, you’ll find False Solomon’s Seal, Mock Orange, False Hellebore, False Indigo, and even False Dandelion, plus a number of other western originals that wound up being “falsely” named.

You can get to know the flowers that bloom in different ecosystems, from mountains or riversides to deserts or coastal terrain. See mountain flowers like Paintbrush, Tiger Lilies, Foxglove, and Lupine, then look for coastal blooms like the Douglas Iris, Tidy Tips, Beach Knotweed, and the Wood Rose. In the Midwest, you’ll find Black-Eyed Susans and Daisies flanking fields of cultivated Sunflowers. You can hunt for rare gems like Florida Orchids, forest Lady Slippers, or unusual desert flowers like delicate Prickly Pear Cactus, the showy pink Beavertail Cactus, or the fiery orange Desert Mariposa Lily.

During this month in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, you can find forest trillium flowers that bloom during Easter. Hunt through the woods of New England for the lilac-purple New England Aster, or scour the Southeast for the Showy Evening Primrose, Queen Anne’s Lace, Rose Mallow, or perfumed Sweet Alyssum. In Texas and throughout the Southwest, you can find wild Blue Sage, Texas Bluebonnets, Desert Marigolds, Orange Cosmos, Phlox, and Missouri Primrose.

When you take part in a Wildflower Walk, you’ll pick up interesting gems beyond the names of local flowers and ways to find them. Ask about edible plants that grow nearby – you might be amazed at what you learn about plants like Licorice Fern, Candy Flowers, Wild Fennel, and Dandelions. You can get the names of native trees or learn tips about which flowers require a marshy habitat and which ones like it dry and sunny.

With the incredible range of flowers blooming in this season, this is the perfect time to learn more about them while taking a Wildflower Walk with a park ranger or flower expert. Think of all the things you’ll learn! And no matter what, you’re sure to come away with a new fondness for the delicate little blooms of nature. As Hans Christian Anderson once said, “Just living is not enough… One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”

Wind-sculpted Sand Dunes of Oregon

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Article Information

Category: Camping Gems

Created on Tuesday, 03 March 2009 20:12

Last updated on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 18:24

Published on Tuesday, 03 March 2009 20:12

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Wind-sculpted Sand Dunes of Oregon

The southern coast of Oregon hides a secret natural wonder—wind-sculpted sand dunes that tower 500 feet above sea level. Set off Highway 101, west of Eugene, these remarkable formations are part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Head to the dunes for a week or a weekend of outdoor fun, enjoying hiking, fishing, canoeing, horseback riding, OHV riding, and incredible photography.

The Oregon Dunes NRA extends for forty miles along the coast, roughly from Coos Bay to Florence. This is the largest group of coastal dunes in North America, encompassing a variety of ecosystems like open dunes, marsh-like plains, beaches, and “tree islands.”

Dunes are synonymous with dune buggies—or with OHVs, today’s equivalent. These off-highway vehicles are perfect dune machines, carrying riders up and down the sides of these towering sand piles. Three dedicated OHV areas have been set up in the NRA. You can explore the sand roads between South Jetty and the Siltcoos River, ride the dramatic slopes of the Umpqua Riding Area, and cruise between Spinreel and Horsfall. 4x4s, motorcycles, sand rails, and quad-runner are also welcome. If you want to take a ride but don’t have your own vehicle, just inquire about guided dune tours.

You’ll find plenty of water sports at the Oregon Dunes. With more than thirty lakes and ponds, plus a myriad of streams and rivulets, there are miles of space for sailing, canoeing, swimming, and water skiing. Enjoy scuba diving in the lakes or fishing on Siltcoos or South Tenmile Lake. Anglers flock to this area for the chance to fish for salmon, steelhead, trout, and warm-water species. The warmer, salt-water estuaries are home to salmon, crab, mussels, and rock fish.

Beyond the fringes of the dunes, lush fir and spruce forests roll down to the coast, offering endless opportunities for hiking and mountain biking. Some trails even lead you up and over the tops of the dunes, providing breathtaking views. More than 230 miles of trails lead you through the recreation area, some trailing along lakeshores and creeks, other leading into the heart of the dunes.

The sand that makes up the dunes comes from the Coast Mountain Range, sedimentary rock that uplifted 12 million years ago. As the rock tumbled down rivers, it graded into fine sand. Over time, tides, waves, and coastal winds built up the sand in this inland area, piling it on top of the solid Coos Bay Dune Sheet. This low, rocky sheet is flanked by beaches with steep banks and headlands, so once the sand arrived on the Coos Bay sheet, it was hemmed in from both sides and forced to stay.

The dunes themselves were built by the action of wind and waves. In the winter, winds can reach up to 100 miles per hour here, whipping the sand particles up into hillocks and mounds, much the way it builds snow drifts. Currents, tides, and waves all helped keep new sediment from the rivers close to shore, adding to the mass of the sand dunes.

You’ll find some unique formations at Oregon Dunes, including that staple of old-time adventure stories – quicksand. Because sand absorbs water quickly, the ground here can become saturated during a big rainstorm. If the marshes flood, the sand grains will actually float on top of the water, making quicksand.

The Oregon Dunes have about 32 lakes that were once mountain streams but got stranded by the sand. Others are ocean inlets that got cut off by shifting dunes.

Changes in the wind direction can result in new and strangely formed dunes. Summertime winds often make dunes that lie against the prevailing wind. From time to time, you might come across tree islands, little clusters of old forests that are almost totally buried in the sand. Just think—if sand can bury forest, is there anything it can’t cover up completely?

Winter Camping | Deserts

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Article Information

Category: Camp Styles

Created on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 17:35

Last updated on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 18:00

Published on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 17:35

Written by Administrator

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Camp Style | Desert Camping

The desert is a unique, and beautiful destination. Each desert has its own fascinating features, including amazing rock formations, types of cactus, interesting wildlife and more. Many of the stunning natural wonders and National Parks in the United States are located in desert landscapes. Everyone should take some time to explore a desert, but its unique characteristics require a little bit of extra preparation from other non-desert trips.

Precautions

Heat
Desert landscapes can become extremely hot during the day, so hot that it is unbearable to be outside even in the shade. If you plan on visiting the desert you may want to consider avoiding the hottest months of the year. In Arizona during the day the temperatures begin to exceed 100 degrees in early May and remain that hot into September. You should plan your trip to the desert during a time when the temperatures seem bearable for the activities you plan on engaging in. 

Sunscreen
The sun blazes down during the daylight hours when desert camping, often uninterrupted by clouds. Even if you plan your activities for the cooler times in the morning in afternoon, you will need to protect yourself from the dangers of the suns rays. Be sure to apply sunscreen, at least 30 spf, every two hours. The key to using sunscreen properly is reapplication, so be sure to keep track of how often you put on sunscreen. Also be sure to have a hat that shades your face and ideally your neck. Long-sleeves also provide excellent protection from the sun. Even if you are wearing long sleeves you will want the added protection of sunscreen, which should be applied under your clothes. You will also want to make sure that you protect your eyes with sunglasses.

Winter Temperatures
If you visit during the winter when the daytime temperatures are warm, but not excessively hot, you should be prepared for the temperatures to cool significantly during the evening. This type of temperature change requires that you bring proper layering clothes, as well as appropriate sleeping arrangements.

Water & Hydration
Water is another key factor in desert camping and exploration. You will not find water in the desert and you will want plenty of water to stay hydrated. The hot, dry weather makes dehydration a quick and very dangerous issue. Always be sure to pack more than enough water when adventuring in the desert. You will not find a place to refill your water bottle when hiking in the desert, and access to water in the desert is even more important than when hiking in other landscapes.

You should also be prepared with food and any other supplies you may need while camping or hiking. Bring all of the food you will need, and maybe more than you need. You don't want to take any chances of getting caught in the desert with plenty of food and water, which are key to a healthy and happy trip.

Shade
If you are camping or RVing when the weather is hot, which is almost the entire year, you may want to bring some sort of portable shade. Having a cool, shady place to sit will make your camping experience much more comfortable. You will find that you want to escape the blazing heat during the hottest part of the day, and having shade will help.

Rainy Season
Many deserts experience a rainy season, which can have monsoon-like conditions. The extreme dryness of the land makes it difficult for the soil to soak up all of the water when it rains heavily. These conditions lead to the real possibility of flash flooding. Throughout desert states there are warning signs telling drives not to cross certain areas if there is water, these areas are called washes. These washes, or dips in the road, although they may not look dangerous can be extremely hazardous when filled with water, they have the power to sweep cars away. If there is any chance of flooding be sure not to drive through washes or walk through washes.

Wildlife

When you are hiking through the desert you will want to keep an eye out for many of the amazing species that inhabit the landscape. These can include deer, rabbits, quail, scorpions, snakes, lizards and more. Many of these animals are harmless and fun to watch, but you need to be quiet and still so you don't scare them away. The desert is also home to some poisonous animals, including rattlesnakes, scorpions and more. When hiking stay alert for the warning sounds of the rattlesnake and stay watchful of where you walk. You should also be sure to shake out your shoes in the morning before you put them on, just in case an insect crawled in during the night.

Desert Destinations

Click to see a list of desert camping destinations.