Great Sand Dunes

Of all the national parks we're planning to go to, I probably had the lowest expectations of Great Sand Dunes. Yes, they're the biggest dunes in the country, but do we Michiganders really need to drive 1,500 miles to see some dunes? We've got great ones in our own neck of the woods. The answer is a resounding yes! We've been blown away by the park. This place is unique - nothing like the Michigan dunes, as cool as they are.

The drive to get here yesterday was spectacular in its own right. We left Boulder and followed the foothills through Golden (hello, Coors), before heading up into the mountains southwest of Denver. This was not the fastest way to go, but the scenic route (US 285) did not disappoint. It first climbs up several different canyons, passing beautiful cascading mountain rivers and streams (that actually have water in them right now). Then you get up over Kenosha Pass and drop down into a gorgeous high mountain valley ringed by snow-capped peaks. It's full of ranches and cattle, along with the town of Fairplay... such a great name. That valley floor is at 10,000 feet above sea level! The entire valley is nearly as high as the summit of Mt. Baker. It's nuts! Finally, you go over the pass on the other end of the valley and are hit with an incredible view of the Collegiate Peaks (Mt. Harvard, Mt. Yale, Mt. Princeton... someone needed to get a bit more creative with the names). It's no wonder the town there is called Buena Vista. We dropped down into that valley and kept heading south, tracking the northern end of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range to our east. The valley is classic Western high desert - flat as a pancake, with sagebrush and some tumbleweed.

Finally, in the distance, we started to see the dunes. It's bizarre. It's so flat you can start to see them almost 50 miles away, tucked right up against the mountains. And they just get bigger and bigger as you approach. Then you realize just how massive these dunes are. And they look so bizarrely out of place, there on the edge of a Colorado valley. I've never seen anything like it.

We pulled into our campsite, and immediately took the short walk out to the dunes. We can see them straight out the back of our site. The stream running by the base of the dunes (a main attraction later in the spring) was a small trickle and very cold. Apparently you can even body surf in it later in the year. Maggie and I built a sand castle until our fingers got too cold. Marianne hiked up the dunes which she said felt like she was on another planet. All of this is backdropped by those amazing mountains. It's truly a spectacular place. 

We couldn't stay long (we're on our way to Mesa Verde already) and temps are a little cool to make the most of it anyway. But we won't forget this place. It's pretty incredible.