Posted on by dennis

Catching Up in New Mexico

I had to get a new military ID card, and White Sands Missile Range is the closest installation, so off I went. It’s a dry, dusty and very flat place with widely spaced buildings, most of which are surrounded by tall fences and razor wire. Apparently, the Army has difficulty keeping its soldiers where they belong. I wanted to take pictures of these brutalist buildings, but they threatened to shoot me if I did. The post bills itself as the “Birthplace of America’s Space Program.” I suppose it is, courtesy of Nazi Werner von Braun.

This is an example of an early American modification of the Nazi V-2 missile. They used them, unsuccessfully, to frighten Londoners into becoming Germans. Although the museum is covid closed, the missile park is open. They have dozens of missiles on display, some as small as your arm.

I’m spending a few days at Aguirre Springs Campground on the eastern slope of the Organ Mountains. The mountain peaks form a backdrop to the west and, to the east, the Tularosa Basin houses the missile range, White Sands National Monument and Holloman AFB. I avoid campgrounds when I can, but I admit that this one is pretty nice. The campsites are spread far enough away I can almost imagine that I’m alone. Xena loves climbing the trees and exploring the rock piles.

I think the designers of this campground and its environs were amateurs. The sculpting of the mountain peaks seem a little overwrought to me, with the slick rock faces and pointy peaks. Just doesn’t mimic nature very well. Moreover, the landscaping has no coherent design schema that I could discern. Just plants stuck in the ground willy-nilly Finally, the nature soundscape is far too loud (not to mention repetitive); they need to turn the bird sounds down.

The Organ Mountains, standing tall to keep Las Crucians out of the Tularosa Basin.
The plain containing White Sands Missile Range and White Sands (gypsum) National Monument.

Xena, the Warrior Princess, is an excellent tree climber. She was right on the heels of a Texas squirrel in San Antonio. Until she ran out of string.

A programming note: I’ll be back in Oakland the first week of April.

3 Replies to “Catching Up in New Mexico”

  1. So sorry the designers of the campground, mountains and surrounding scenery screwed up! It’s so taxing when they don’t get things right. The horrid landscaping must definitely be a trial. Too bad you have to put up with so much!

  2. Who might the landscape designers be? A fancy out-of-town group of academically trained brainiacs who have lost touch with the land that they are shaping? Or did the landscape formation occur prior to hominoid habitation?

    1. I’m not sure, but I suspect that, since this property belongs to the Bureau of Land Management, a committee of Washington bureaucrats “designed” the landscaping.

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