About 4-hours South of Denver lies the Great Sand Dunes National Park in the San Luis Valley and at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. As the park name suggests the park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America.
Dunes History
The dunes were formed from sand and soil deposits of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, flowing through the San Luis Valley. Over the ages, glaciers feeding the river and the vast lake that existed upon the valley melted, and the waters evaporated. Westerly winds picked up sand particles from the lake and river flood plain. As the wind lost power before crossing the Sangre de Cristo Range, the sand was deposited on the east edge of the valley. This process continues, and the dunes are slowly growing. The wind changes the shape of the dunes daily. (Wikipedia)
Our Adventure
Approaching the dunes requires walking across the wide and shallow Medano Creek, which flows only from spring to early summer. I made Justin carry me over it so I wouldn’t ruin my shoes! Hiking is permitted, with the warning that the sand can get very hot in the summer, up to 140 °F . The area gets snow in the winter, and recommended activities include sledding–how fun!
One of the recommend activities during the spring/summer/fall is sand boarding and sledding. Justin and I fully intended on renting sand boards until we got out of the car the windy nearly carried me off! People were walking off the dunes at 60-degree angles just trying to cut through the winds to get back to the parking lots. We determined that getting ourselves up the dunes was priority without carrying a large board with us. Plenty of children were sliding down the dunes and it did look really entertaining but beyond exhausting. Rental information can be found here and is located right outside the park entrance .
Climbing up high dune was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, we should all hope I don’t ever get stranded in the desert! I don’t know if it was the wind or walking up a 750ft sand hill, but it beat both of us to death and only made it about half way up; since we knew we needed energy to get back to the car.
Once we fought our way back through the wind to the car, Justin and I looked at each other and laughed. We both had mouths full of sand, faces that had been aggressively exfoliated (aka sand blasted) and eyes that were bloodshot and itchy but the experience was well worth it!
For tons of more information check out the Great Sand Dunes National Park website.
