Great trails explore White Sands’ geography

Gypsum dunes make up the bulk of White Sands National Park.
Photo courtesy White Sands NPS.

Great trails explore White Sands’ geography White Sands National Park sits at 4000 feet elevation in southcentral New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin. The 148,588-acre park protects 115 square miles of the gypsum dunefield with the rest of it in the White Sands Missile Range.

Transverse-Barchan dunes sit behind them on the field’s western and and northern sides. These arc-shaped dunes have gentle sloping sides on the windward side leading to high ridges with a steep dropoff on their front.

Dome dunes also can be found at the field’s western edges, usually next to the park’s Lake Lucero and the alkali flat. These dunes are large, rounded piles of sand.

A vast 1,600-square-mile alkali flat stretches between the dunefield’s northwest side to the San Andres Mountains, which forms the basin’s western wall. The flat is the remnant of the evaporated Lake Otero, which was larger than modern Rhode Island.

Two connected pools that make up Lake Lucero are south of the alkali flat and west of the dunes. The lake often is dry, but after rain, snowmelt from the neighboring mountains, and upwelling from deep groundwater, it will fill, only for the water to eventually evaporate.

Trail access to the vast dune field is limited.

The northern half of the dune field sits in White Sands Missile Range with the western half of the park – which includes the alkali flat’s southern portion, Lake Lucero and the dunefield’s southwestern section are shared by the missile range and national park.

The park itself – the area accessible to the public – consists of the dunefield’s southcentral portion and some adjoining desert with a little bit of the alkali flat.

A single road – Dunes Drive – runs about 8 miles into the park, and all of the park’s trails can be accessed from it. About nine miles of trails head into the dunes.

Some great trails to explore White Sands National Park’s geography are:
• Playa Trail (dune front)
• Alkali Flats Trail (Transverse-Barchan dunes, Lake Lucero)
• Interdune Boardwalk (Parabolic dunes)

Trails explore St. Croix Cnty.’s geography

Willow Falls on the Burkhardt (Pink) Trail east of Hudson.

A number of great day hiking trails explore St. Croix County’s diverse geography.

The west-central Wisconsin county largely can be broken into three distinct geographical areas: the St. Croix Valley, the central plain, and the western uplands.

The western third of the county consists of a thin slice where the St. Croix River runs while the area overlooking it is moderately hilly as creeks drain into it and the tributaries of the Apple, Willow and Kinnickinnic rivers. Collectively is known as the St. Croix Valley, this area actually stretches south into Pierce and north into Polk counties. Willow River State Park near Hudson offers several excellent trails that are representative of the river valley, including the Whitetail (Red) Trail, the Burkhardt (Pink) Trail, and the Knapweed (Orange) Trail.

The central and eastern thirds of the county are largely a flat plain with slightly rolling hills. This region once was an outwash plain at the end of a previous ice age. With such little change in elevation, much of it today is prime farmland rather, but there are a few trails here, most notably the Wildwood Trail, a former rail line turned into a bicycling/walking path.

A third area consists of high-relief hills and valleys that mark the northwestern edges of Wisconsin’s western uplands. This hilly terrain is particularly noticeable around Glenwood City, east of Wilson, and north of Spring Valley. A day hike that gives a good sense of this landscape is the Glen Lake East Trail at Glen Hills County Park.

Learn more about nearby day hiking trails in my Day Hiking Trails of St. Croix County.