The Big Loop, Day 7: White Sands (16 images)

Beauty and horror - that's how I thought of my day. Yes, I woke up to a spectacular sunset. But the Valley of Fires Recreation Area where I camped was only about 30 miles from Trinity Site, in the White Sands Missile Range. That is the site of the first atomic bomb test in 1945, followed just a few weeks later by our bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I am well aware of the history in that area, not to mention the small possibility of elevated, unsafe levels of still-present radiation. But I chose to focus on the beauty. So I drove down to the White Sands National Park (which is south of the active missile testing range) for a quick tour. These are my shots from that unique place, and some along the way. I was fortunate all day to have some terrific cloud formations to include in my images. With temperatures in the high sixties, it was an exceptional day.