Great Sand Dunes National Park

Our first real stop on our Colorado trip was at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Located outside of Mosca, CO. The park, which I am going to shorthand as GSDNP, is home of the tallest sand dunes in North America, as well as pretty much every ecosystem you learned about in elementary school (excluding maybe 'ocean'... although some couple million years ago it probably included it). Anyone who knows me can tell you that I love variety, so this place really fit the bill.

If you can't tell, those are
MOUNTAINS next to the dunes

Since we got there close to nightfall, all of the 88 available campsites were full, and we had to retreat outside the park at the Oasis Campground. Although we were a bit disappointed not to be in the park, we were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful panoramic sunrise view of the dunes the following morning. The campsites were also spaciously separated from one another, and alas, we had utilities, real toilets, and free showers available for use; something the national park campsites were lacking.

Hiking Chuck!

This was our first opportunity to really check out the park, so that's what we did. My boyfriend was itching to try out the 4x4 trails with his truck, which ended up a near failure. Let it be known that a 8,000 lb lifted diesel truck and a deep, sandy, slopey trail should not meet. We managed to get down and back from the first checkpoint without much issue, but it was obvious that we wouldn't be able to continue to our intended destination without the security of a winch. After humbly backing away from that challenge, we decided on an easier task: climbing a mountain. Since most of the trails were either accessed by 4x4 vehicles or from the complete opposite edge of the park, we began on the Mosca Pass Trail. For the most part it was kind, but for being out of shape and unadjusted to the altitude, we headed back after about a mile. Chuckie was a champ the whole way, and proudly carried all of his things inside of his cute backpack.

He also kept licking the sand...

I had to stop from singing
"Arabian Nights" the whole hike

The following day, we got up early (at least as early as we could) and left to tackle the sand dunes. Our mission was to hike up High Dune, which stands at about 650 ft tall. The sand was a lot harder to hike through than we had expected, so I ditched my boots and went barefoot. Losing the shoes not only helped with gaining some footing in the sand, but it allowed me to keep an eye on the sand temperature. During the hot sun of the summer, the sands can reach over 150 degrees Fahrenheit. With Charlie coming along with us, we were racing the temperature to finish the hike and return before it was dangerous for his feet. Lucky for us, we had some heavy rains the night before so by staying on the shady side of the dunes we could keep both our feet and Charlie's black body cool. Charlie thought the sand was amazing. Every time we stopped he would begin digging nonstop; you can check out a video of it here.

Charlie, waiting to pounce

We managed to make it to High Dune in a couple of hours (some kid we met up there probably did it in half that time, and he wasn't even tired), and we took some time to enjoy the view. I've never seen anything like that view, a combination of several landscapes. To the east you see mountains, west is plains, and to the southeast you see remnants of a creek that is full of life during the cooler times of the year. As we headed back down, you could tell Charlie was excited about our increased pace. Down was much easier than up; you could almost skate down the slopes on your feet. We almost regretted not renting one of the sandboards the campsite had available, Charlie could have just pulled us down the whole way.

 In all, I'm glad that we were able to stop at GSDNP. I think it was one of our favorite parts of the trip, and definitely a new and unique experience that I (and hopefully Charlie) will never forget.

Pooped puppy