Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

I made it to Colorado! I headed straight towards the Great Sand Dunes National Park. I was hoping to secure a campsite, and made some calls, and checked online, but of course they’re all booked. I didn’t expect to get in, but I certainly took advantage of the dump site and filled up with water. It was 90° at 8100 foot elevation. That sun was intense. By early afternoon I had walked out onto the sand fields which is actually the Medano Creek. And, yay, they let dogs come out here too! So Jo Jo and I packed up the beach chair and all the essentials and made it into the creek area which was really just a trickle or ankle deep. Everyone was enjoying playing in the mud, which is sand, and getting super dirty. I elected to stay high and dry. It was enjoyable watching others climb up the sand dunes, some with sleds. From what I understand, to get to the very top is a 3 mile hike, and all I could see were tiny little dots of people against the tan colored sands. I’ve done some sand climbing myself, and I know how difficult it can be, so I decided to just watch this time around. It was beautiful watching these big white clouds against dark dramatic mountains, and then the winds picked up…again. Everybody was getting sandblasted and one group lost their umbrella which went somersaulting head over heels for probably a quarter of a mile before it crashed into some bushes.


I headed out and found myself a BLM spot right off the highway with decent Internet connection, so I had a view of Blanca Peak Mountain, the 4th highest peak in CO, where I admired some slivers of snow on top. It was pretty darn warm and I’m looking over maps to decide my route into cooler climate. There was an amazing sunset and from the other side nearly a full moon. This vast open space certainly does make someone feel small like a dot.



































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