Great Sand Dunes National Park

Where: Great Sand Dunes National Park, near Alamosa, CO
When: August 20-22, 2010
Who: M, myself, our mutt Bella, and assorted other friends 
That was awesome: The dunes, in every way
That sucked: The heat of the sand, not being able to swim in San Luis lakes

So M and I had a plan this year, to see a couple things within driving distance that we always wanted to see.  For me, that was Great Sand Dunes National Park.  I was absolutely enthralled with the idea of enormous mounds of sand in the middle of southern Colorado.  

Great Sand Dunes, with Sangre de Cristo mountain range in the background

Covering about 19,000 acres and estimated to be about 12,000 years old, the dunes, the tallest in North America, are the country's newest national park.  And as my friend D said, "They generally don't make things that are lame into national parks."  Wise words indeed.  You can read a lot about the dunes on the Wiki entry, but one thing I thought was cool was how the dunes are formed by a perpetual cycle between wind and sand deposits from the nearby streams.  It's like a giant engine that keeps picking up the sand and putting it back on the dunes.

Despite a delayed start, getting there was fairly easy.  Google’s directions were accurate and the place is well marked.  Pinyon Flats is a nice campground, with modern toilets and a sink for washing dishes, as well as drinking water.  The sites themselves are large and nicely spaced from each other, which is very important to me because one thing I hate about car camping is feeling like I’m on top of the people next to me.  Plus, we tend to drink and get loud, and that just doesn’t end well for anyone.  Don’t eff with the regulations or park rangers though – we got yelled at because one of our tents was not on top of the super special box edged by pieces of wood that designated the tent pad.  Apparently we were killing vegetation, and by vegetation, I mean dirt.

One thing to note: The reserved campsites at Pinyon Flats Campground book up FAST.  I made reservations in March, and the first weekend I could get was August 20-22.  Do not underestimate the drawing power of enormous mounds of sand. The campground also boasts a rather impressive view of the dunes, and you can hike directly to them from the campsite, which is nice.

View from our campsite

The primary point of this trip was to hike the dunes and for me to roll around in the sand, because I am evidently a 5 year old.  We met up with some friends at the visitor’s center and then began the hike out to the dunes.  At first, you’re like, “Oh, this isn’t so bad, it’s kind of like a beach.”  But then you realize that it’s like a beach that’s located at 8500ft elevation and ascends, sometimes near vertically, another 700ft to the top.  In which case it’s the most ass-kicking beach you’ve ever seen.

A small part of the dunes, cast in shadow.

 

Yeah, those little dots are people.

I really underestimated the difficulty of hiking up enormous mounds of sand.  I also underestimated the sun and how quickly the sand heats up.  Learn from my experience – take much more water than you think you need and start earlier than you think you should.  We started out about 9:30am, and by 11, the temperature on the sand was probably about 120 degrees.  My poor, poor mutt suffered most, as I didn’t think to bring her booties, and the sand burned her paws a little.  (Don’t worry, she’s okay, I just felt like a horrible pet parent for the rest of the day.) 

Ultimately, though, it’s totally worth the effort and the heat and sliding backwards every time you take a step up a sandy mountain-hill-from-hell.  There aren’t words – or even pictures, really – that can capture how truly amazing the dunes are.  It’s like someone just picked up part of the Sahara and dropped it north of Alamosa.  Framed by the Sangre de Cristo mountains, it’s a really ethereal experience.

Dunes and Sangre de Cristos

I must give credit for the summit pictures to my fellow trekkers, who continued on after M and I turned around. We were nearly out of water, and Bella (mutt) was starting to really struggle with the heat of the sand, so we descended the dunes and sought refuge in the shade.  Until that point though, Bella really loved romping and rolling in the sand. 

View from the top of the dunes, where you can see that they stretch forever.

Looking east.  This was take from lower down on the dunes.

Footprints in the sand

Sunset over the dunes, as seen from our campsite

 The most annoying thing about the trip was that, after hiking the dunes and getting all hot and sandy, we all really wanted to go for a swim.  There are some lakes nearby, at San Luis State Park, but, while you can partake of boating, water skiing, wakeboarding, or other aquatic activities, you cannot swim in the lakes.  Yeah, we didn’t understand it either.  There is a geothermal pool, but it charges $10 admission, and we decided that we’d rather sit around in the shade drinking beer instead.

We forgot to bring sleds, which is totally my next to-do item, because sliding down the dunes, as you can image, appealed enormously to my inner 5-year-old.  However we were able to amuse ourselves by sliding around on our butts and listening to the creepy creaking noise the sand makes while doing so.  Hey, just because I’m nearly 30, I never said I was an adult. 

Bottom line: The dunes are an amazing experience, and should appeal to everyone from kids through adults.  Be prepared for heat, the difficulty of hiking on sand, and remember to protect the paws of your furry companions!

Recommendations:

Pinyon Flats Campground – Yes, but be prepared for crowds and definitely make a reservation well in advance if you can’t make it down in the early morning for the first-come, first-serve spots.  Weekends are probably more crowded than weekdays.   Overall a nice place.

Nearest services: We drove into Alamosa for beer and a Safeway run.  That’s probably your best bet.  There is also, as I kept gleefully reminding my camping cohorts, a Wal-Mart in Alamosa (it’s a running joke between my cousins and myself, as they grew up near Alamosa and the Wal-Mart was a BIG EFFING DEAL when it was built.)

Required activity level: You either need to be of at least an intermediate activity level or willing to take a long time to hike the dunes.  It’s not the distance or the elevation, but rather the struggle to hike uphill in something that slides backwards when you step on it.  It took us about 2.5 hours to summit.  However, there were people of all ages and activity levels simply playing around and enjoying the dunes, so if you don’t feel the need to summit, you’ll be fine.  The park does provide specially designed wheelchairs to use on the sand for people who need them as well, which I thought was pretty cool. 

Prairie sunflower.  Because I habitually take a lot of pictures of flowers.

Up Next: Moab, Utah