B & D's USA Hideout: Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

Where man himself is a visitor who does not remain - 1964 Wilderness Act

The dunes of The Great Sand Dunes National Park were great indeed. Between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the San Luis Valley, sit North America's largest piles of sand. How the dunes were formed exactly is still being researched by geologists, hydrologists and other interested scientists. The Park Service has some great animated videos on their website to show the formation of the San Luis Valley and Great Sand Dunes as well as the pulsating flow of the Medano Creek. Surges of water seem to come from nowhere in the river. This rare phenomenon needs three elements to make it flow; a steep grade, smooth creek bed and sufficient water. The Medano Creek runs over sand and creates sand dams or "anti-dunes" that trap water. When the pressure gets too great, the dam breaks and sends down a wave about every 20 seconds. Spring and early summer is wave season at the dunes.

Speaking of spring, it is a rather rugged time of year to be camping in this high desert terrain. Spring can bring high winds in the afternoon and can swing temperature highs from the 60s to the 30s and lows down to 0 degrees F. March and April are the snowiest months of the year. We witnessed all kinds of this crazy weather first hand. The whole state of Colorado got swept up into a cold snap. The day Brian and I picked to hike to high dune, the winds were raging, snow was flying horizontally and the temperature with wind chill was in the freezing range. We didn't pick the best day but it was our last day so we geared up and went out anyway. Hiking in the sand is tough as it is but 40-50 mph wind gusts and whipping sand and snow flakes made it one of our most challenging and least fun hikes yet. Thank God Brian thought for us to wear goggles. We persevered and made it to high dune but did not stay long, we couldn't, not without being blown to the next dune with the millions of other morsels of sand. Still, I got some cool shots and we got to witness another phenomenon, The Great Sand Dunes Tiger Beetle. This crazy thing is an endemic species, meaning they only exist on one location or area on earth, AKA the Great Sand Dunes.

This is a really unique park and despite the harsh elements this time of year, we loved the scenery and wildlife.