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White Sands National Park covers 145,762 acres (227.8 sq mi; 589.9 sq km) in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a 275 sq mi (710 sq km) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals. This gypsum dunefield is the largest of its kind on Earth, with a depth of about 30 feet (9.1 m), dunes as tall as 60 feet (18 m), and about 4.5 billion short tons (4.1 billion metric tons) of gypsum sand.
Approximately 12,000 years ago, the land within the Tularosa Basin featured large lakes, streams, grasslands, and Ice Age mammals. As the climate warmed, rain and snowmelt dissolved gypsum from the surrounding mountains and carried it into the basin. Further warming and drying caused the lakes to evaporate and form selenite crystals. Strong winds then broke up crystals and transported them eastward. A similar process continues to produce gypsum sand today.
The park is located about 15 miles south of Alamogordo, NM, USA. Such a unique place and experience, very surreal.
Psalm 121
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 I look up at the vast size of the mountains—
from where will my help come in times of trouble?
2 The Eternal Creator of heaven and earth and these mountains
will send the help I need.
3 He holds you firmly in place;
He will not let you fall.
He who keeps you will never take His eyes off you and never drift off to sleep.
4 What a relief! The One who watches over Israel
never leaves for rest or sleep.
5 The Eternal keeps you safe,
so close to Him that His shadow is a cooling shade to you.
6 Neither bright light of sun
nor dim light of moon will harm you.
7 The Eternal will keep you safe
from all of life’s evils,
8 From your first breath to the last breath you breathe,
from this day and forever.
Opuntia, more commonly known as prickly pear cactus. McDowell Mountains Sonoran Preserve, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
The strawberry hedgehog cactus or Engelmann's hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) is commonly found in desert areas of the southwestern United States and the adjacent areas of Mexico. Engelmann's hedgehog cactus usually grows in clusters, sometimes up to 20 and more stems. The bright magenta flowers bloom in April in its southern extremes, to late May at northern locations.
I ran inside the house, grabbed 100-400mm lens and took some photos. 100-400 mm lens, attached via Fringer EF-FX Pro II adapter to Fuji X-T5. No time for a tripod.
Raven at Hermit’s Rest, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ, USA. This one would get as close as 3 feet from me in hopes of getting some food. Since feeding of wildlife is illegal in the Park, "Bertha", to her dismay, did not get anything from me. She hung out around me for about 10 minutes, though, before the next shuttle arrived.