Great Sand Dunes National Park

When we left Fort Collins we drove down to Alamosa, Colorado to visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Once again got here and set up just in time as the rain came for a couple of hours. It had cleared up by the time we had dinner and we got to see a rainbow out the window while we were eating. We walked out later and got a few pictures of the rainbow and the mountains in the distance.

Rainbow

View of mountains from RV park

View of mountains from RV park

View of mountains from RV park

The next morning we woke up to a heavy fog that did not burn off until around lunch time. Once the fog was gone it was sunny and warm so we loaded up to go to the park. By the time we had lunch it got overcast but we went anyway as it was only about 20 miles away.

Great Sand Dunes contains the tallest sand dunes in North America. It is located at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which go up to 13,000 feet. As we drove into the main road leading into the park we had a coyote run across the road in front of us and as we left later that evening we had another one run past us. At the visitors center you can go on a short walk where you get a good view of the sand dunes. There are lots of Aspen trees and they are all yellow at this time of year.

View from visitors center

The dunes

From the visitors center we went down to the parking area for accessing the dunes.

To get to the dunes you have to wade across the the Medano Creek. It is a very shallow creek and in fact has been know to totally dry up in the summer. This time of year the creek has water in it again but it is only about ankle deep.

Medano Creek in front of the dunes

Medano Creek

Medano Creek

Medano Creek

Medano Creek

Medano Creek

We had brought our bag that contains water shoes and towels just in case there was water in the creek. We debated crossing to the other side and climbing part way up one of the dunes but backed out. We talked with several people that were coming back and were told the water was very cold, the sand was very soft on the side we would start from but when you got to the other side of the creek it was all rocky and hard to walk on without shoes. By this time the wind had picked up and I was bundled up in my sweater. Most people we talked with had on long pants rolled up slightly and were wearing jackets. I spent two weeks with a cold, I did not want to have a relapse. It would have been interesting to try and climb the dune but the park advises planning at least 5 hours to get up and back down. We should have brought our rubber wading boots with us, I did not think abut it being that cold. Of course then we would have had to carry the boots with us as we climbed.

Of course you can get down pretty fast if you try sand sledding. You can actually rent sleds from a company just outside the park or you can just bring a huge piece of cardboard to sit on and slide down. We actually saw someone with cardboard. I offered to give Bruce the big white canvas bag we store our swim shoes and towels in so he could use that to slide back down but he was not interested. We stayed for awhile watching all the people climb the dunes and people coming back across the creek carrying on about how cold it was in the water.

After visiting here we decided we need to suggest that Jerry and Georgiana collect their grandkids and bring them up here for a visit. The kids would have a blast sliding down the dunes. Not sure who would be climbing up the dunes with them to supervise. Bruce and I would come back to take pictures but with our 500MM lens we could stay down low to get good pictures.

Dunes

Dunes

Close up of people walking on dune

Dunes

The sand surface can reach 150 degrees during the summer so they advice climbing early in the morning or late afternoon.

After leaving the dune area we went on up in the park as far as we could drive. You are required to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle after a certain point as you are driving on the soft sand. It is actually called the point of no return. We parked at an over view point and stayed until the sunset. Saw a number of birds and mule deer on the way up to the view point.

Hawk or Falcon

Close up of hawk or falcon

Hawk or Falcon?

Close up of hawk or falcon

Had good views of all the aspen trees that have yellow leaves this time of the year. We stayed for awhile after sunset.

Sun starting to set

Sunset

Clouds at sunset

Clouds at sunset

We headed back down to a lower level out of the mountains and found a spot to park and watch the moon rise. This was the night that the Harvest Moon was rising but because the mountains were blocking our view we did not get to see it low on the horizon when it would be gold looking. It was still pretty and Bruce got some good shots with our big lens.