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It's such a pristine and harmless looking place with all that pure white sand that at times can gleam brighter than new fallen snow. At it's purest, there's nary a tree or bush to be seen in any direction and the sands seem to go on forever.
Unfortunately there have been those who unknowingly risk their lives by straying from the designated tourist areas on their own. To say nothing of hiking off, unprepared or ignorant of the dangers in the unlikely event of getting lost, falling ill or being injured. More often than not, they have been foreign tourists who end up being lost in the sands, some to die there from overexposure.
This story is but the latest such instance, and because it's about three family members from France, it is one of the most tragic.
Oh, that is awful. I lived in Alamo for a couple of years and never hiked the White Sands trails. My wife and I went to the Visitor Center a couple of times.
It's easy to get fooled by desert heat because of the dry environment. 105 degrees can seem like nothing compared to 90 with high humidity. I'm still terrible about drinking enough water before or during hikes and find myself waiting till I'm thirsty to gulp some down and have forced myself into getting in the habit of downing a pint of water before I even leave the car.
When you throw in the fact of how easy and quickly you can get disorientated in so many places it's not hard to have bad things happen. My trips into White Sands have been limited and short. From what I remember your main reference point is the San Andres mountains that can mostly just tell you that you are lost someplace to the east of them.
From what I remember your main reference point is the San Andres mountains that can mostly just tell you that you are lost someplace to the east of them.
The problem, as I see it, is that first time visitors/tourists have no idea where they are and, since it's a well-known tourist attraction, they have an expectation of a safe experience. Add in the language barrier if they are from a non-English speaking country, and you have a recipe for disaster.
French tourists traveling in the US usually have a very good command of English, but anyway the reports stated that information at White Sands is available in six languages, including French.
People lose their lives in all the National Parks and White Sands is no exception, actually the White Sands safety track record sounds pretty good considering they get about 600,000 visitors annually. Close to 700 known deaths of visitors to the Grand Canyon so far (which obviously gets a lot more visitors than White Sands). And several people fall to their deaths each year on Sandia Mountain alone, right next to Albuquerque. Some people unfortunately get trapped by overestimating their abilities/preparedness or underestimating the hazards of Mother Nature and ignoring the warnings.
Some people unfortunately get trapped by overestimating their abilities/preparedness or underestimating the hazards of Mother Nature and ignoring the warnings.
That's it in a nutshell! I've watched as tourists at Grand Canyon totally ignore the "danger" signs and climb over guard rails and otherwise risk their lives to get "daring" photos standing on the edge of a precipice.
The difference with White Sands is that it looks so bucolic/harmless to the uninitiated.
The difference with White Sands is that it looks so bucolic/harmless to the uninitiated.
I don't think it would seem harmless when it's 100 degrees. Obviously most people don't want to be out hiking there in those conditions or there would be a lot more fatalities. I have gone a few times in the winter when there is no risk of heatstroke, but even then I have gotten an uneasy feeling about the possibility of getting lost and not finding my way back if the wind erases my footsteps. The trail markers are spaced far apart and can be hard to see.
Yep. The other problem in many remote places is that if there is a trail and you veer from it even a little it can be hard to relocate it again. I had that happen to me in the Malpais by Grants. You lose site of one of those lava cairns for a moment and wander off you are on your own. I had the GPS and a waypoint to parking and could even see the terrain landmark by the parking so it was no biggie getting back. The thing is that the trail bypasses the wide, deep fissures and now you are on your own picking new routes around that stuff. Meanwhile the sun is dropping lower......
You can see from that fine shot you posted the same general problem. You get to the bottom of a dune and suddenly you have lost sight of any landmarks and just how many of those can you clomp up and down on a hot day!
Was out looking for geocaches one day SW of Cuba. Climbed this hogback and it was that old story about getting down again is always harder. Went down on the opposite side instead but again, it was almost another hour to make my way back around. So many things can go wrong.
Many years ago I watched some special by that Cody Lundine (sp). Took a load of first time hikers out in the desert. One thing he said I have never forgotten and it's so simple. When you are hiking stop now and again and look back where you came from and notice things. If you do not your whole hike back will look like unfamiliar terrain because you are just now seeing it from the opposite direction.
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