“If one is inclined to wonder at first how so many came to be in the loneliest land that ever came out of God's hands, one does not wonder so much after having lived there,” Mary Austin wrote in 1903, in The Land of Little Rain. She was among the first American writers to celebrate the beauty of the desert Southwest. Judging by visitation, appreciation for that beauty – “the pulse of a life laid bare to its sinews,” in Austin's words – is increasing. Desert places have become global attractions.

In the Chihuahuan Desert, that includes four national parks – Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, Carlsbad Caverns and, now, White Sands in New Mexico. Located in the Tularos... Hosted by for KRTS