Great Sand Dunes National Park

Hiking Buddy/Boyfriend: Matt

Wildlife: Birds, bugs, deer, lizards, mosquitos

Driving from the north, you start to see the sand dunes from an hour away.  A tiny blob of tan at the base of a mountain range.  Is that? no.. that can’t be them.. It is.  It could’ve just been the route we took, but I felt a bit stranded in this area of Colorado.  I mean it’s not desolate.. but you may or may not have phone service and the nearest house is about a million miles away (give or take a mile).

We snagged a camping spot in the park at Pinon Flats Campground (which I highly recommend).  We had views of the dunes from our tent.

The Plan:

Day 1: Set up camp, walk around the base of the dunes and relax by the stream after a long drive

Day 2: Wake up early to hike the dunes, sand board down, relax, eat lunch, hike Zapata Falls in the afternoon, dinner at the campsite, walk the dunes as the sun goes down

Day 3: Get the heck out of there.

Day 1 and 3 are pretty self explanatory.

Day 2:  We woke up early and headed out of the park to the Oasis Store (rightfully named).  There you can rent sand boards and sand sleds.  Sand boarding is similar to snowboarding but the boards are wooden, smaller and don’t have tight bindings.  They come with wax to use before each trip down the dunes.  We rented one between the two of us since we’ve never done it, and would rather carry one than two up the sandy mountains.

Basic Rules:Bring lots of water, leave your shoes in the car-hiking the dunes is easier in socks.  The second the sun comes out, the sand gets very hot.

The. climb. is. rough.  It’s exactly what you’d think: each step you take sinks back slightly.  Not only that, but when you look at the dunes they look fairly straightforward, until you get into them.  The dune you were shooting for all of a sudden has 10 dunes in-between with dips and slopes to intimidate you.  Keep going.

We reached the peak we were shooting for.  The view is unbelievable.  Unbelievable in the sense that you feel like you’ve stumbled onto another continent-surrounded by sand, boxed in by steep mountains.

The dunes look so small from the ground, but so big once you get into them.  People on other peaks look like ants.  You don’t want to leave, yet once the sun is up you want to road runner as fast as you can to the closest form of shade as quickly as possible.

Luckily, the fun wasn’t over.  We (mostly Matt) had been hauling a sand board up and over mounds and mounds of sand for hours.  He went down first.  It took some getting used to, but once we did it was a lot of fun!  We got down a whole lot quicker than going up.  Once at the bottom we took a few more turns running up and down the dunes before giving up.

After a quick stop off for lunch at the camp site, we headed out of the park to the Zapata Falls trailhead.  It’s 3 miles up a veeeery bumpy road.  If you can make it there without your car being shaken apart you will be rewarded with a beautiful view of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.  The hike to the falls is up a rocky path surrounded by woods and underbrush.  Once you hit the river, you either forge it -oregon trail style or climb the steep rocky ledge and hop from rock to rock until you get to the top.  The falls are located in a cavern.  You then climb up and into the small pool-like cave the waterfall flows into.  It is only a few slippery steps until you are in the mouth of cave and at the base of the waterfall.  It was a refreshing end to our day.

That night we walked down to the dunes to watch the sun set and the stars appear.  The stars!  Because of the lack of civilization and civilization’s lights, you can see forever!  I’ve never seen so many stars in my life.    

The perfect end to a perfect trip.  Although technically it hasn’t really ended..I’m still finding sand in my shoes.