September 9, 2008

September 9, 2008

From Buena Vista, CO we drove south along the Arkansas River Valley over Poncha Pass and into the wide, flat, dry high-country San Luis Valley. When I think of western Colorado, I think mountains and don’t realize that Colorado has this many valleys. Eventually we turn east and I can see Great Sand Dunes National Park in the distance. At first I thought they were just oddly colored foothills of the mountain range, but they are actually mountain-sized sand dunes. This is probably one of the few National Parks that can be seen from miles away. What an oddity this park is. To have a mountain of sand next to a mountain range. You would think we were in the Sahara.

Our first stop in the park is the Visitor Center. There we watch a very mediocre film but learn that the sand pile is here because of winds that trap the sand in an elbow of the mountain range. Afterwards we head to the Dunes parking lot for an up close and personal look. Walking in sand is difficult enough when it is flat. This is work. After this brief taste, we pick out a campsite in the park and relax the rest of the day.