Great sand dunes

Having spent too many weekends in a row not doing anything that special it was about time to make a small road-trip down south. Our destination was the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve not too far from the New Mexico border. It was going to be a long day so we set out at 7 in the morning. To get there, the plan was to take the longer but much more scenic route through the mountains while returning via the quicker but much much much much much more boring I-25.





Larger map

This turned out to be a good decision as the views in the mountains were pretty spectacular. We passed quite a few of the Colorado fourteeners along the way but the last hour or so before reaching our destination was pretty yawn-inducing. There was a good 30 mile/50km long arrow-straight straight followed by a left turn and then another 15mi/25km of the same. During this, you could see the sand dunes in the distance and they didn't look that impressive to be honest.

A view to Buena Vista with the some random mountain in the background

We ate sandwiches at the heart of the blooming metropolis Hooper

After lunch we passed by the Colorado Gators Reptile Park and decided to give it a go. The entrance fee was a hefty $15 but where else in Colorado would you run into something like this? The park turned out to be in surprisingly bad shape but there were lots of gators, snakes, lizards, turtles and even ostriches and emus.

We didn't want to spend too much time before even hitting our destination so we kind of rushed through the place. As the dunes got closer and closer we realized how big they really were. On the plains we saw quite a few mini-tornadoes (or maybe a swirl would be a better word) that were more cool to look at than scary.

From a distance they don't look that big...

"April is often one of the snowiest months at Great Sand Dunes, but there can also be some sunny days with highs in the 60s." Yeah, or in the high 70s. We had to cross the Medano Creek to get to the dunes.

Why not?

This gives you some idea of how massive it really was. If you view the large picture - those tiny specs near the top are actually people.

Nice backdrop.

Note to self - next time apply some sunscreen

The original plan was to climb to the top but we ended up turning back about half way up. It would've been challenging even at sea-level and at that altitude (8200' / 2500m) and with the heat, it was just too much. I tried going barefoot for a while but the sand was so hot that I quickly changed my mind. Some of us ran down a steep slope as fast as we could and although it was great fun, I still have some sand in my pockets. And my wallet. And my cell phone.

Close to the dunes there was a place called Zapata Falls which we had to check out before heading back.

The bullet hole in the middle adds a nice touch

Those you didn't want to skip from stone to stone or wade through the icy cold water only got to see this much.

The return trip wasn't terribly exciting but before hitting the I-25, we rode a bit on the northernmost stretch of the Highway of Legends and saw the Spanish Peaks.

The easternmost 4000m peak in the U.S.

All in all - it was a very long day but well worth it. Seeing massive sand dunes or alligators wasn't something I was expecting when I moved to Colorado.