Children of Dune

                                Wednesday, August 13, 2014

We spent the day at Great Sand Dunes National Park. It lived up to its' title, and more. A variety of adjectives could be added like Superbly or Abundantly. We walked the nature interpretative trail, then walked across a creek and climbed the dunes.  I'll tell you (before Jonathan!) that early in the climb I was ready to quit, twice.  Some of it was physical : imagine hiking, mostly uphill, in thick mud, in 22-30 degree heat.   Some of it was mental: why I am hiking these dunes? They all look the same. Will there will be a view at the top?  After deciding to commit, I buried my doubts and paced myself, with JD's encouragement and fellow climbers. My competitive nature kicked in, and during the final ascent, I was determined to stay ahead of the younger hiker behind me!   

Drive to park, right side 

Drive to park, left side

Prickly Pear Cactus

Nature Interpretative Trail

Fringed Sage

Yucca

Juniper Tree

Picnic Area

Creek, start of Dune Climb

This is about the mid-way point. We chatted with a mother and daughter duo from Minnesota. The daughter sandboarded her way down  a dune. On our return trip to the picnic area, we saw a guy stand on his board as he descended the dune. He made it look easy! The Minnesotans snapped this photo.  Later, in the picnic area, we met them again!

Our final ascent. There was a gentle breeze that cooled the air.

We're climbing to the dune on the  left. 

Our sandy perch where we stopped climbing. We turned back here to save our energy for our return trip and other hikes.  

This hike was in a different area of the park. You can see the dunes we climbed in the distance.

We drove a rough road with several deep ruts to reach the trailhead. A helpful sign informed us "rough road".  Then, it was a twenty minute gradual incline to Zapata Falls. It was several degrees cooler by the falls!  There was a cave to explore, but a slippery rock climb prompted us to leave the falls with all our parts intact!