Parks Peaks & Paths

Alamogordo, NM

Dust Storm in Alamagordo

4 / 4
The day after climbing sand dunes at White Sands, we were exhausted. Turns out hiking soft sand is a full-body experience, and not the fun kind. So we declared a down day. In the desert, with no amenities, a down day means one thing: find air conditioning. The local library fit the bill perfectly.
After a quiet afternoon cooling off, we headed back toward Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. That’s when the landscape started to change. Out ahead of us, the mountains faded into a beige haze. Visibility on the road was still fine where we were, but the sky and horizon had taken on a muted, dusty look. Something new for us East Coasters: a desert dust storm.

As we approached the campground turnoff, we spotted a road closure just ahead. It looked like it had gone up moments earlier, since traffic hadn’t backed up yet and everything still felt in motion. Thankfully, we slipped through before the backup extended beyond our turn off. A few minutes later, and we might’ve been stuck for who knows how long.