Great Sand Dunes and more

Views as we approached the park


Our hike


We stumbled across another great find: Great Sand Dunes National Park. It is tucked up against the Sangre de Christo mountains almost to New Mexico. It sits at the end of a road in the middle of NOWHERE – and yet there were people there. First a little Great Sand Dune history. The sand comes from rocks in the San Juan mountains on the other side of the San Luis valley in southern Colorado. The prevailing winds blow it across the valley until it comes to the Sangre de Christo mountains where it piles up at the base. The dunes are about 30 square miles and the highest point is 795’. This makes them the tallest dunes in North America.

I was all set to climb up to the top so I could see the whole dunes. After we left the parking lot and started walking towards the dunes I realized that perhaps this was a bit ambitious. What looked like a great (perhaps a little strenuous because of the sand) trek from the visitor center didn’t look so good when I realized that the little tiny isty-bitsy flecks I was seeing on the top of the dune (and not even the highest one at that!) were not floaters in my eye but people! We pressed on and I made it about ¼ of the way before my knees pooped out and I decided to enjoy the sand where I was rather than the view from the top. The sand is beautiful, very soft and fine. Amazing was that even up on the dunes where we were there were wet patches in the sand! This in a pile of sand 100+ feet deep and in the middle of a desert! We found tracks for what we think was a kangaroo rat. He was all over the place.

We followed the dotted “scenic” route south to Antonito where it continued on over Wolf Creek Pass and we wanted to go south into New Mexico. Some of the scenic routes we have followed on this trip had unconventional beauty but it could always be seen. On this road though . . . . not so much. Flat, dry, long, straight. That pretty much sums it up. We did see a ranch where they were raising water buffalo. If you want to read about water buffalo I recommend you go to Chalupa’s blog: http://talesfromtheeastcoast.blogspot.com/ and read her posting Italy - Water Buffalo. It is in her June postings.

Remember the trailer trash town we saw on our way south through the Colorado Mountains? Well, their cousins have moved to northern New Mexico and set up shop alongside Hwy 64. I would love to have some photos to show you but it was all too scary to even think about stopping.

Outside Taos we saw some really strange looking structures. We thought perhaps they were mines but then we got a closer look at one and decided they were underground houses. I did some web searching this morning and discovered that they are, in fact, houses and that what we saw was a subdivision of them. Here is a link to one of their websites. Very strange. http://www.sangres.com/newmexico/taos/earthship.htm

Park mammal count: 11 – deer, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, red squirrel, prairie dog, rabbit, buffalo, elk, red squirrel aka chickaree, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrel, least chipmunk
Trip mammal count: 17 - deer, moose, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, antelope, rabbit, mule deer, red squirrel aka chickaree, prairie dog, buffalo, ground squirrel, Abert’s squirrel, elk, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrel, least chipmunk, deer mouse
Dollars saved on this trip with Park Pass: $93.00

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