Great Sand Dunes National Park

A made a quick visit to Santa Fe to drop off Kelsey, do wash, and resupply.  Then we headed north to Colorado.  As usual, we had multiple options at our disposal.  With the weather cooperating, we decided to camp for a night at Great Sand Dunes National Park.  It includes a huge dune field on the SW edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and contains the tallest dunes in North America (750'),  It's formed and sculpted by the prevailing north-easterly winds coming across some pretty flat, barren country.  

We quickly set up our camp and proceeded to hike up into the dunes.  Quite a visual delight, with all the organic shapes and shadows.  And nice peaks beyond, too!  There were quite a few other folks exploring (and sledding), but the area is so big, it wasn't a problem.  In fact, they mostly looked like little ants! Gorgeous, and windy!  We had a nice campfire after dinner, and heard a bunch of coyotes yipping and yowling for half the night.  

 

 

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