In April we spent a couple of days in Southern Colorado, specifically at the Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa, CO.
Two weeks ago, we spent a couple of days at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (an American National Park on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley) – an amazing place in Southern Colorado…
A sandbox of epic proportions, the entire dune field encompasses 30 square miles, with the tallest dune towering 750 feet (230m) high. The kid in every visitor loves to sled down the sand year-round and plunge into the soft-sand tracks of those who climbed ahead of them. Aside from the dunes, you can enjoy picnicking, hiking, and camping. You can also take the challenging four-wheel scenic drive on Medano Pass, try out horseback-riding trails, or tube down in the mysteriously appearing and disappearing Medano Creek. If you are brave and fit enough, you could climb a couple of 14,000- and 13,000-foot peaks (Crestone Needle, Crestone Peak, Cleveland Peak, and Mount Herard).
A strong and cold wind blew in our faces the evening we got there, but we were rewarded with some really nice shots of the patterns the wind painted in the sand.
The next day we climbed the hill across from the dunes to get a birds-eye view of the area. The people who dared to climb the dunes in the windy weather seemed like ants on the high sand cliffs.
The Medano Creek is a popular seasonal stream, enjoyed by all ages. Its depth and duration directly correspond to snowpack levels in the mountains where it originates. The flow is supposed to start sometime in April, but when we visited it was not flowing yet. So, that is definitely a reason to go back later this year to see this amazing phenomenon.
The diversity that we see everywhere in Colorado just keeps surprising us and inspires us to capture the wonderful outdoors that are just outside our front door.
No matter where we stood there were mountains all around us.
Live inspired and keep shooting.