Great Sand Dunes National Park
Today we took a trip down to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and we had a blast. This is the tallest dune in North America and after hiking to the top I can vouch for that! If you want some good exercise try hiking up 1000 feet in 1/2 mile in sand! While the park was pretty crowded, because it was the weekend before the 4th of July, the people were pretty concentrated in the campground and picnic area. It didn’t take too much walking to get away from the people, mostly due to the fact that not many people wanted to walk in the deep sand.
There is a road that goes over the Sangre de Cristo mountains called the Medano Pass trail, and I would highly recommend this route if you are going to this park. If I were to recommend a path I would enter into the park from the main entrance, then play in the park for the day, and after that head out of the park on the 4wd trail. This way you get to go from the desert valley, to the dunes, to the mountains and see the whole evolution of Medano Creek.
Other than hiking in the dunes and up the mountains, you can also take a dip in Medano Creek as well, and it sure is nice after a trip up the dunes!
View the Parks website here.
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve:
* contains the tallest dunes in North America and one of the most fragile and complex dune systems in the world
* protects a globally significant, water- and wind-driven system, which includes creeks that demonstrate surge flow, a rare hydrologic phenomenon
* provides tremendous scenic settings that, for many, provoke strong emotional responses. These settings (including massive dunes surrounded by alpine peaks, a desert valley, creeks flowing on the surface of the sand, pristine mountains, and rural range land) offer spacious relief from urban America, exceptional solitude and quiet, and a remarkably unspoiled day and night sky
* hosts a great diversity of plants and animals, including insect species found nowhere else on earth. The system, which spans high desert to alpine life zones, supports rare biological communities that are mostly intact and functional
* contains some of the oldest (9,000+ years before present) known archeological sites in America. The dunes have been identified as having special importance by people of various cultures, and the area is recognized for the culturally diverse nature of human use
* provides special opportunities for recreation, exploration, and education in the highly resilient dune mass and adjoining creek environments.
The amazing Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background
Going UP!!
The view from the top of the Dunes
A little fun in Medano Creek out front of the Dunes
