A Sand Dune in the Rockies

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

(Sightseeing)

June 12, 2017 - June 13, 2017

I've been interested in seeing this National Park for some time so we headed northeast out of Bayfield and reached it easily in 1/2 day going over Wolf Creek Pass (10800+ feet) in the process.  It's the highest pass we'd been through thus far.

Views from near Wolf Creek Pass.

The dune is readily apparent as you get closer.  It's a mammoth thing and from a distance it looks like it's right up against the nearby mountains.

Panorama of the Great Sand Dune as you see it driving into the N.P.

There were no campsites available in the park or anywhere nearby so we just drove into the park with the motorhome towing the car.  Luckily, it's not a big driving tour like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. We had to forgo the visitors center because there was no space left to park so we drove to the dune parking lot which did have plenty of spaces for RV's, Once there you get out and walk through a bushy area where you can than see/photograph/climb/etc. the dune.

This was a surprise!  A stream flowing between the bushes and the dune.
It was only about ankle deep however and the kids were loving it.

We saw people who had climbed way up on the dunes and I'm certain there were people using boogie boards to slide down.  Sorry to say we didn't even get our feet wet.  All our pictures were taken on this side of the stream.  With no place to stay in the area we drove on to Fort Garland for the night.