Another long day, but much more interesting. We got an early start and headed to White Sands National Monument. Too early a start as it turned out the visitor center wasn’t open yet when we arrived, so we couldn’t rent sand sleds yet. So we drove around awhile into the dunes area.
When we got back to the visitor’s center there was a big line of people waiting. But it turned out it was for back country permits to camp, so we were able to get our sleds pretty quickly. Once we got our sleds (and wax) we went back to the dunes and did some sledding. It is pretty fun sliding down the dunes, but it is hard work climbing back up each time after sledding down. We spent about an hour sledding then decided to get back on the road.
We left White Sands and started the drive towards Moab. On the way we went right thru the northern end of the Organ mountains to get a closer look. We had seen them from a distance the previous summer and wanted to take a close look. Some day we will go back and hike them.
Further up the road we stopped at El Malpais National Monument which Dad has wanted to check out for a number of years. It is basically what remains of several huge lava flows. Arch. Looked very simialar to sandstone and slick rock in Utah.
