White Sands, New Mexico, USA

Martin Gray

In southcentral New Mexico, west of Alamagordo, are the world's largest dune fields of gypsum sand. The brilliant white sand dunes cover an area of nearly 230 square miles, with many dunes rising to over 60 feet. The best time to visit the dunes is on a warm winter day; there will be few tourists compared to the large numbers during the summer months, and the winter light is absolutely beautiful on the shimmering sands. Wander far out upon the dunes and spend hours playing and lying in the sand. The spirit here offers an expansive sense of calmness and a childlike joy in the heart. The dunes also seem to attract visitors from very, very far away; while National Park and government officials will resolutely deny their existence, hundreds of UFO's have been sighted at White Sands during the past 30 years. The dunes were a fabled site for vision quests of Indians from throughout the southwest and northern Mexico.

Copywrite 2008 Martin Gray. All rights reserved.

Martin Gray's new book Sacred Earth — Places of Peace and Power and DVD.

About Martin Gray

Martin Gray is a photographer and anthropologist specializing in the study of sacred sites and pilgrimage traditions around the world whose work has been published by the National Geographic Society. During the past twenty years, he has presented slide shows on the extraordinary beauty and precarious situation of the world's sacred sites to more than one hundred thousand people on four continents. Traveling as a pilgrim, Martin spent twenty years, visiting and photographing over 1000 sacred sites in eighty countries. His award winning website, www.sacredsites.com has received over twenty million visitors since 1998. Sacred Earth is featured in a major Feng Shui journal. Martin's Email: martin@sacredsites.com