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.
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!
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…
No comments:
Post a Comment