10-08-11 Great Sand Dunes National Park, Part 1

Be ye forewarned: The next series of posts are out of order! So much for continuity. But it’ll be worth it, trust me.

So I left off in Taos Junction, New Mexico. The morning of the 8th of October was crisp and clear, a blessing after a night of cold rain. We broke camp and drove towards Colorado along scenic Route 285. And boy was it scenic! Our first stop was the High Bridge over the Rio Grande. I was surprised to see such a small river at the bottom of this enormous gorge. According to wikipedia, the amount of water that reaches the Gulf of Mexico from the Rio Grande is only one-fifth of its historical amount, thanks to irrigation and city use.

Standing on the Western rim

Strangely squashed mountains along Route 285

This seems like a nice road on which to break the land speed record.

We had some errands to run in downtown Alamosa (nice place!) like buying a zero-degree sleeping bag for Louis, and a thermometer. (Inexplicably, I already had a zero-rated sleeping bag, on which is printed “EMS Rental” and I cannot for the life of me figure out how I got it. I’ve never rented a sleeping bag. All I can hope is that I don’t just as inexplicably one day no longer have a zero-rated sleeping bag). From Alamosa it was a short drive to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. And there, my mind was blown away.

I want to live here forever.

I’ve had a draft of this post sitting around for over a month, and there are a zillion no-good reasons for that. I will say though, that the idea of going through 500 pictures taken over the course of three days was daunting! I do not, however, wish that I’d taken fewer photographs. Great Sand Dunes National Park deserves more paragraphs and pictures than I could tell in seven weeks of non-stop blogging.

I’m trying to give you a sense of scale, but even this doesn’t do justice.

I did not want to leave this magical, otherworldly place. I want to spend a year doing nothing but documenting the passing of the seasons, and analyzing the shifting of the dunes, the effects of water and wind and ice and people on this massive pile of sand. I mean, did you even know that Colorado had sand dunes? We’re talking thirty square miles of dunes, the highest of which towers at 750 feet high. It’s like being transported to a high-elevation version the Sahara Desert. Only imagine the dunes surrounded by 14,000 foot mountain peaks. What? I’m not kidding. This place is awesome, and totally absurd.

Lots of smart folks had sleds and snowboards. Next time we have GOT to do this!

Our home for the next two nights.

Scientists believe that the dunes were formed about 440 thousand years ago when a vast lake in the San Luis valley dried up, leaving massive quantities of sand exposed. Prevailing Southwesterly winds blew the sand right up against the Sangre de Cristo mountains, while the occasional storm would gust winds in the opposing direction, causing the dunes to grow vertically. Rivers flowing from the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the Northeast and the San Juan mountains to the West deposited more sediment, further adding to the mass of sand dunes. The sand is continually recycled by wind blowing up and rivers washing down the Sangre de Cristos. There you have it, in a nutshell. If you want any more science, you can read it yourself.

The dunes are nestled up to the Sangre de Cristos

The view from our campsite

Dinner was couscous and freeze-dried veggies, and the night was exceedingly cold. (No, my memory is not that good. I kept a hand-written journal during segments where internet was spotty). Even though it only got down to 25F or so, I made the mistake of not wearing every possible layer of clothing. The following night I opted for two pairs of socks, leggings, cotton pajama pants, t-shirt, long sleeved technical shirt, my magic fleece layer, a fleece jacket, and a hat. Oh, and two blankets on top of my zero-degree sleeping bag. Slept through the night! Lesson learned.