Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Posted: June 15th, 2009 | Author: Roger Ludwig | Filed under: Colorado | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

Dunes at SunsetThis has to be one of the most fun national parks in the country.   Children laughing, frolicking in the water, splashing through the next wave.  Families building sand castles. Teens flying colorful kites. Seniors watching in beach chairs under their canopies.  Kids climbing up the sand, sliding down on their plastic sleds.  Dogs playing at the ends of their tethers.  Proud fathers filming the glory of it all.

“A national park?” you ask.  Yes, even a wilderness area at that.  “On one of the coasts?”  Well, if Colorado has a coast, this has to be it:  Great Sand Dunes National Park in spring and early summer.

Justly famous for its dunes–the tallest in North America–the fun is where Medano Creek skirts the dune field.  The waters, having rushed down from the snow fields of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, reach the sand and spread out in a broad, many-braided flow of cool blue.  It’s all sand and water, just right for bare feet.

The flow of water pushes sand into temporary dams, momentarily reducing the current.  Then the dams burst, sending a wave into the laughing children.

With the rugged range as the backdrop and the great dune field in the foreground all this joyous mayhem couldn’t take place in a grander scene.

And when teens are looking for more adventure there are always the dunes themselves.  High Dune, at 650’, hovers above the “beach” and is the most popular destination.  On busy days people look like army ants, a marching column ascending the summit.  Further into the dune field is Star Dune, which at 750’ is the tallest.  Reaching its top is a real accomplishment.

Yet like so many things in the world this glory lasts for just a few weeks.  Late in June the creek flow dwindles and the water simply disappears under the sahara of sand.  By then the dunes are getting hot, up to 140 degrees on summer afternoons.  The crowds are gone, replaced by those who hike the dunes in the cool mornings and explore the mountains by day.
Read the rest of this entry »