These are the highest sand dunes in the US at 750 feet and they are nestled against the mountains with a stream on the north and south sides. The dunes are about 30 miles long and are all protected.
Both the creeks are shallow and Medano is near the Visitors Center. It was fun watching the kids play in it even in the cool weather today. A film in the Visitors Center showed it is a favorite of the kids when the weather warms up. It is like being at the beach in FL. They were building sand castles, burying each other, etc.
Interestingly the streams play an important role in
sustaining the dunes. They catch a lot
of the blown and eroding sand and take it to a nearby lake bed that dries up periodically. When it is dry the wind picks the sand up and
carries it back to the dunes. Scientist
estimate that these massive dunes that extend up to 350 ft underground and are nearly 35 miles long are only
11% of the sand in the San Luis Valley!
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| The Great Sand Dunes, or at least a small part of them! |
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| Medano Creek, as the Spring thaw proceeds it will have more water! But, you can still walk across it to the dunes! |
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| A beach just like in Florida! |
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| Folks across the creek on the dunes! |
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| The mountains behind the dunes! |
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The dunes are really impressive and interesting. I have been wanting to see them for quite some time. We both enjoyed the visit today.
We also saw Zapata Falls. It was up a gravel road a few miles from the gate to Great Sand Dunes. UP was definitely the operative word – the road climbed from 7500 ft to 10,000 ft in a winding 3 mi! From there the sign said it was a 1/4 hike up to the falls and 1/4 mi hike back! It lied – it was a mile and a half up and 1/4 mile back or so it seemed!! Hiking at 10,000 ft is a much slower process!! Despite that we never did see the actual falls, only the water coming from them. You had to walk up the stream in the water to stand in front of the crevice to see the actual falls.
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| The real Zapata Falls is up the crevice in the center of the photo! |
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| Downstream from the falls |
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| We never seem to feel like we have seen enough deer. These were along the road back down from Zapata Falls! |
Neither of us wanted to make that effort, it was cool, water was cold, and we didn't bring a dry pair of socks! But, once we slowed down going UP we enjoyed the beauty of the spot. We could see the dunes and the rest of the valley from there!
Anyway we concluded the day with a great Mexican early dinner (since we
missed lunch) on the Rio Grande River in Alamosa, before heading back to the
RV!
Those dunes surely are a wonder!
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