Great Sand Dunes National Park

I arrived to Great Sand Dunes early afternoon. I went to the visitor center first and stamped my passport. The main visitor center is closed this year for renovations, so they have a temporary modular center set up.

Driving up a bit further to the next parking lot, I readied myself for hiking the dunes. Camelback donned, I headed on foot toward the dunes. It was ust about 70 degrees and sunny at the base with a nice breeze. There's a small river of water at the base of the sand. The kids were playing in the clean brown sand and a familiy had set up a beach tent in the steam like it was the beach. I treaded through the river to the dunes.

Hiking through sand is hard work! I'm used to waking the beach, but I usually walk the packed part of the sand and it's NOT uphill. They say it can be up to 60 degrees hotter on the sand. I was working up a sweat, but I wouldn't say it was hot. The higher the elevation, the temperature was dropping and the wind was getting stronger. I was walking along this narrow ridge. There were sand boarders riding down the ridges, walking back up and then riding down again. There was a young couple from Denver who asked me to take their picture. There was a couple carrying their Collie down the rim. Another couple had their baby on back and walked right past me. I was out of breath. It was not only hard work but at a high elevation and I was out of breath.

I made it about one-third of the way up. The wind was whipping up the sand and my legs were being sandblasted. That was my turn around point. It is over 6 miles round trip to the top. I hiked 2 miles and enjoyed every minute. If I hadn't been alone I would have pushed to go the top but I couldn't afford to put myself in a position where I could compromise my ability to get home. I'm ready to go home.

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