Summiting the Dunes

Fortunately, our luck improved after leaving Black Canyon.  The clouds cleared, the sun began to shine, and temperatures began to climb as we started our 3-hour drive southeast toward Great Sand Dunes National Park.  We were excited to find the gorgeous snow-capped mountains of the Sangre de Cristo range and the tallest sand dunes in North America.  On Thursday, we made a climb up the eastern face of the dunes but made a rookie mistake…we decided to make our own path up the dunes instead of following the footsteps of others that had gone before us.  We found ourselves trekking inefficiently from one steep dune to the next without making any upward progress.  (Climbing up huge dunes of sand that sinks beneath your feet is harder than it seems.) It wasn’t long before we tired out and decided to turn back toward the campground.

                               Moose did pretty well hiking up the dunes....

                    ...........but sometimes he had to be carried....

                                      View from our campsite

On Friday, we decided to take the Mosca Pass Trail to go on a bear hunt.  The trail was covered in deep snow that was difficult for Moose to walk in, so we didn’t make it too far before we called it quits (and no, we didn’t find any bears).  Jack decided to scale a mountainside while Megan and Moose rested at the campground and enjoyed the sunshine.  Later that afternoon, we decided to give the dunes another try.  We really wanted to reach the highest dune, appropriately named High Dune, to get some pictures of the top of the dunefield in front of the mountain range.  Plus, we couldn’t start climbing the dunes without getting to the top!  This time we were smarter and decided to follow the tracks of previous hikers. It took us about an hour and a half of tough climbing before we made it to the top, but it was well worth the view.  The winds were calm and we were the only people up there- it was incredible!

                           Almost to the top of High Dune

                      Our little Moose stopped to pose for a picture

                               View from the top

We ended the night with a campfire and s’mores under the stars.  We headed back to Colorado Springs this morning to return our RV and have been enjoying some hiking and microbrews around the city today.  We head back to Texas tomorrow, and we’re planning on making a stop at Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas panhandle on our way home.  Our trip was short but memorable, and we can’t wait for our next adventure!  Stay tuned…

Moose in the Mountains

October 27, 2011

I guess you can say we didn’t get enough time in the National Parks this Spring…because we are BACK!  After a busy summer we decided we would load up our 11-week-old great dane puppy, Moose, and head to Colorado.  Our plan for this trip was to rent an RV in Colorado Springs and drive to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, then on to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

                                   Garden of the Gods Park

On Monday, we arrived in Colorado Springs and stayed the night in a hotel.  We ate pasta take out and watched the Rangers win another World Series Game!  In the morning we went to Garden of the Gods park and walked around for about an hour and took in some beautiful scenery.  After enjoying the beautiful weather, we headed to the RV rental place and picked up our home for the rest of the week.  We both realized immediately that this was a step up from the travel trailer we stayed in for six weeks.  Moose is an awesome traveler and took to the RV with no problems.  

On Tuesday, we drove four hours and arrived at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park outside Gunnison, Colorado in the evening.  We had learned that an extreme cold front was coming that night so we were prepared for an adventure as usual.  When we woke up Wednesday morning there was snow covering everything and a heavy fog was in the air.  This park is known for one of the deepest, narrowest, and most impressive canyons in the world, but with the fog and snow we couldn’t see it even when standing right on the edge of a half-mile-deep ledge.  Snowed in and freezing, we stayed in the RV most of Wednesday.  We read, watched DVD’s on a laptop, drank tea, and slept most of the day away.  That evening, with cabin fever picking away at us, we went for a drive around the canyon.  In a few areas the fog was cleared enough to see the brilliant canyon walls dropping straight down below us.  We took a couple of short hikes with Moose and enjoyed the snow covered wilderness.   Luckily, most of the low-lying clouds had cleared out of the canyon on Thursday morning, so we went on another hike before leaving for Great Sand Dunes National Park.  

                          Standing above the 1/2-mile deep canyon