20 Sep: We had arrived at our next destination well after dark after our sunset walk at White Sands, so we had no idea what our campground looked like until morning. We awoke to find that our site at Aguirre Spring in the Organ Mountains had a wonderful view of a jagged mountain crest to our west and a far off glimpse of the dunes of White Sands below to the east. We hiked the four-mile Pine Loop Trail, which climbed to a low pass with a good view south, then circled clockwise through an area with several large pines before descending back to the campground. Most trees were not very tall or closely spaced, so the trail continually offered good scenery. The two kinds of trees that seemed dominant here were alligator juniper and gray oak. Many of the junipers looked pretty old, with thick trunks and scaly bark that looks like alligator hide. We often sighted lizards along the trail. The trail was fairly rugged, so we didn’t hurry and took about four hours to finish our hike, a most satisfying outing in a gorgeous setting.
