Looking at the date of my last entry, I have been a real slacker. We have seen and done a lot in the Durango/Bayfield area but just haven't posted. I will have to make good use of my time while at the service center to get the blog up-to-date.
The Bayfield Pine River RV Park is loaded with cottonwood trees that have exploded in releasing cotton balls everywhere. For the first time in his life, John has been hit with allergies due to these blooming cottonwood trees and has been pretty miserable the past couple of weeks. The ironic thing about this to us is that in Sacramento, the blooming cottonwood trees tore me to pieces but here in Colorado, I haven't been bothered at all. Different species of cottonwoods I suppose. Anyway, we were planning on leaving on Friday but with John feeling so miserable, we decided to begin a leisurely trek to Kansas a couple of days early in hopes that by leaving the area, he could get to feeling better. Besides, we were ready to get back on the road.
The last two times of towing, we had mechanical problems so we (I) had some worries about whether or not they would continue. Thankfully, the truck hummed along just fine and we made it up and over Wolf Creek Pass (7% grade for 9 miles) just fine. Our destination for the day was Alamosa, CO.
We pulled in to Alamosa before lunch. As our travel day was a short one - 138 miles, we had our afternoon free, so we decided to take the drive to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve that is about 38 miles from Alamosa. First stop was at the Visitor's Center where we watched a movie about the park and got a panoramic view of the dunes. The park has a bit of everything: alpine tundra, subalpine, montane forest, dunefield, grassland, riparian and wetlands.
The dunes are considered the tallest in North America and cover more than 330 square miles. Around the edges of the dunefield are the lifeblood of the dunes system - Medano Creek and Sand Creek. Both of these creeks begin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The rangers said that mountains did not receive their normal snowfall this winter so that Medano Creek was reaching its peak level today which wasn't very deep. We were surprised to learn this as the other mountain ranges west of here certainly received a significant amount of snow and the rivers really show it.
We drove through the campground but it didn't look like it was big-rig friendly. Warnings about bears and mountain lions were posted. Still, if one uses common sense, it would be a neat place to spend a night or two for a small rig or tent.
We then headed for Medano Creek and were very much surprised at all the activity in the area. Kids of all ages were playing in the water and wet sand. Others were taking saucers and hiking up the dunes to slide down while others hiked to the very top of the dunes (1 1/4 to 2 hours one way). It was quite the happening place. The creek really doesn't look like much here but one can look down the creek area and see how wide and deep the creek can get when the snow melt is substantial.
It was surprising to step off the trail and feel how warm the sand was on my feet. The park does put out warnings that during the summer the sand temperature can reach 140 degrees.
We love the way the sand dunes look in this picture.
We were really glad that we took the time to visit this diverse national park of ours.
We drove through the campground but it didn't look like it was big-rig friendly. Warnings about bears and mountain lions were posted. Still, if one uses common sense, it would be a neat place to spend a night or two for a small rig or tent.
We then headed for Medano Creek and were very much surprised at all the activity in the area. Kids of all ages were playing in the water and wet sand. Others were taking saucers and hiking up the dunes to slide down while others hiked to the very top of the dunes (1 1/4 to 2 hours one way). It was quite the happening place. The creek really doesn't look like much here but one can look down the creek area and see how wide and deep the creek can get when the snow melt is substantial.
We love the way the sand dunes look in this picture.
We were really glad that we took the time to visit this diverse national park of ours.
