Great Sand Dunes - 149,137 acres

The National Park is on CO 150 about 15 miles west of Alamosa off of CO 160. The dunes sprawl across part of southern Colorado's San Luis Valley, a broad, arid plain between the San Juan Mountains on the west and the Sangre de Cristos on the east. The visitor center displayed two photographs 138 years apart showing the crests of the large dunes. Remarkably, the photographs show that the crests remain similar in shape, due to the opposing winds keeping the dunes in relatively the same location.

Snow melt run off from the 13,000 ft. mountains contribute to the streams that flow into the main stream bordering the dune field. We waded across the stream and ventured towards the massive dunes.  Many people were out enjoying the day, sand boarding down the steep faces, hiking to the top, and playing frisbee with their dogs. We hiked up the hardest way possible which seemed to be a good route at the time. We realized when we headed back down that there could have been a more direct route through the valleys rather than straight up. Hiking in sand is quite challenging, there was no way we would have made it to the top, we barely went up a quarter of the distance. Coloradans definitely go for the extremes.

Growing up in Saudi Arabia, dunes were plentiful in the Rub' al Khali (The Empty Quarter) but, I never really gave them much thought. We took a 4 wheeling trip when we first moved to Abqaiq, drank tea with some Beduins in the desert and I photographed their camels on a slit face dune. That was the extent of my dune exploration in the Rub’ al Khali. I have to say that we really didn’t spend much time outdoors with average temperatures hovering at 130 F most of the time. We lived in the Eastern Province and moved to Dhahran on the coast. We spent many days at the beach of the Arabian Gulf instead of venturing out into the desert.

We took lots of photos at the Sand Dunes National Park and began losing the light quickly as the sun was setting, the wind picked up and the clouds started rolling in. The surrounding mountains still had snow and a were truly amazing backdrop to the dunes. The next day the plan was to check out the Zapata Falls and to the Medano Pass, a 4x4 trail around the dunes and into the forest. The Wrangler trudged through the sand trail, through streams and we happened upon a family of big horn sheep, truly a treat. We have seen Elk, Deer and Antelope and this was our first sighting of the Big Horn Sheep in Colorado.

  

Now on to the seriously washboarded gravel road to Zapata Falls, about two miles up. Medan Pass wasn’t as rough. We hiked a bit further to the a crevice in the the rocks, waded through the flowing water and up into the cave. After hiking in knee to waist deep water at the Narrows in Zion, this was a piece of cake. Just which I had worn my boots, they make me feel invincible. Unexpectedly, the falls were partially frozen but water was rushing from above. Took a few shots and this mist was spraying the lens. We trekked back through the stream and down the path, that is were I tripped an scraped my knee and twisted my ankle, not serious but it sure did sting. I knew I should have had my boots!