Most of the images seen of White Sands National Park, New Mexico, are of the rolling dunes going on to the base of massive mountains, seemingly devoid of life. That is taken from the crest of dunes, of the crest of dunes. Go down in between them and there is, in fact, life.
At the time of this picture, the park was actually a National Monument, gaining its park status in January of 2020. I spent an afternoon walking these beds which were formed at the bottom of a long dried lake. It was the first day the park had been open to visitors for nearly a month, the result of a long government shut down that seemed to solve nothing other than preservation of the humanless tranquility of the dunes.
That night, I was one of the only people in the backcountry, sleeping totally exposed in the fridged air. My feet froze in the bottom of a 15 degree bag even as I burrowed into it for the night. The dry air was so cold that I ordered Enlightened Equipment insulated booties that night. Few sunrises have been so well received.