Columbus Day Weekend - Great Sand Dunes Rehash

Time for another long weekend as Monday the 8th is the Columbus Day so of course that means it was time for yet another road trip. My goal was Mesa Verde which is the only one of the four National Parks in Colorado I had yet to been to (the others are Rocky Mountain NP, Black Canyon and Great Sand Dunes). It's in the very far south-western corner of the state close to the four corners so it's a minimum two day trip and if you actually want to spend enough time there, make it three. No wait, I got Tuesday off as well so make that four.



View Larger Map A and I: Louisville
B: Great Sand Dunes
C: Cortez (night 1)
D: Mesa Verde
E: Durango (night 2)
F: Ouray
G: Telluride
H: Glenwood Springs (night 3)

This also was one of the last chances to get out before winter starts creeping in. Many of the attractions have already closed their doors around Labor Day back in early September, e.g. the road to Mt. Evans. The Trail Ridge Road has also been closed a few times because of snow storms. On Friday morning it even snowed in the foothills and on Saturday morning when I set out, the temperature had dipped below freezing as well.

A tiny bit of snow on the trees and slightly wet road but nothing too bad

My plan for Saturday was basically just to drive to Cortez right next to the park entrance. That's about an 8 hour drive without stops or any deviations from the quickest route. I set off before sunset and about half way through came to the realization that there's no point in just driving straight to Cortez since there's not a whole lot of interesting stuff there, especially after it starts getting dark. I therefore decided to revisit the Great Sand Dunes National Park where I had been to back in April with some of my colleagues.

A view down to Buena Vista for the 4th(?) time

One big difference this time was that the Medano Creek that we had to jump across back in April was no longer there and it was just sand and more sand from the parking lot out. Trying to climb up the dunes was just as difficult as before and this time there was also brutal cold winds that kept blowing the sand up in the air and froze your hands. Having learned my lesson, this time I did wear a hat and some sunscreen so I didn't end up looking like a lobster afterwards. I also went back to Zapata Falls and surprise surprise, they weren't frozen anymore.

Wither Medano Creek?

Pouring the sand from your shoes afterwards is the best part

Up up you go

Zapata Falls after hopping a few minutes from stone to stone trying to avoid the freezing water

Clouds climbing over the mountains. The sand dunes start from the mid left of the pic

It turned out that I spent too much time on this short detour as it already got dark around 7pm and driving the last 90 minutes or so in pitch black wasn't that much fun.