Hiking Great Sand Dunes

I started the day by going outside the park to Zapata Falls. The road to the falls was quite rocky, so it’s a slow trip up to the trail head. It’s only a ½ mile hike up to the falls, but it is steep. You end up at the stream bed and have to hike the last 100 yards through the creek to see the falls which is tucked in a corner. Boy! Was that water cold! The lower part of the falls was still ice covered. Definitely worth the hike.

In the afternoon, I hiked the sand dunes, managing to climb the highest sand dune in about an hour. It was an exhausting hike, particularly when the sand was loose, two steps up and one step down. Interestingly on the north side of the dunes, the sand was wet a couple of inches under the surface, making that easier to climb. Upon reaching the top there were about six of us up there enjoying the view in all directions.

This vacation was just a short jaunt around the borders of Colorado, a great way to get away from everything. (My Dad had died just a few weeks before.) The weather was colder than we expected - we went through a tank of propane in just 10 days. What stands out is all the flowers we saw, and that we have a much better understanding of the Ancient Pueblo people after visiting ruins from all 3 subcultures. 

If you would like to see additional video and pictures, they are available on youtube.