May 19 - 21: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado (part 3)
May 21st
We were back at the sandboarding for a couple of hours this morning. I think Benny and I sufficiently used the boards so that I can say we got the full value of the rental of the equipment. We left the park and went the four miles to turn it back in rather than pay for an extra day by turning it in tomorrow. Then I kept going.
“Aunt Gus? Aren’t we going back?” Then he saw my smile and he said, “A surprise?!”
“Yeppers Little Bear. We used our time wisely so I’m able to sneak in something I didn’t think we’d be able to do.”
“Yay!”
Zapata Falls is a short hike on Bureau of Land Management land. We could have just driven to the trail head and that would have been enough. From there we saw beautiful views of the entire dunefield and of the San Luis Valley.
From the Visitor Center we drove south about eight miles before turning left onto a rough dirt road which thankfully was well marked. Then it was another three and a half to the trailhead. From the parking area at the trailhead, we only had to hike a half mile, but from that point we had to wade some deep water – it was over Benny’s head so he road piggy back – and then we got to see the 30 ft. high fall cascade onto a ledge.
There’s a sign at the start of the trail that briefly gave me a second thought until someone coming back gave us the trail conditions were fine except the water was a little deeper than normal. Caution: Rocks are slippery. Water may be deep and swift in early summer during snowmelt, or during heavy thunderstorms. Rarely, rocks may fall from above into the crevasse. In winter, the falls freeze, creating an icy sculpture. Ice and snow may make the hike very slippery. Falling ice may be a hazard in spring.
Then I took Benny to another special overlook. A ranger had explained to us that Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve are surrounded on the north, south, and east by lands managed by the US Forest Service, including the Rio Grande National Forest (west side of the Sangre de Cristos) and the San Isabel National Forest (east side of the Sangre de Cristos). Eight 14,000' peaks and many other peaks, valleys, alpine lakes and streams are found within these two national forests. At one of the pullouts was a sign and I let him read it. Yes, it was a little slow and painstaking, but his reading skills are heck of a lot better than a lot of five years old even with the dyslexia which mostly is only in his writing now that he is learning words as pictures and not phonetics.
Of course, there were words he didn’t know but then he stopped and his mouth fell open and he looked at me.
“What?” I asked him trying to hide my smile.
“That mountain is called Little Bear Peak!”
“It is? You sure?”
“It says it right here! Right here on the picture sign!”
I laughed. “Yep. Thought you would like that.”
“Wow.”
At 14,037' Little Bear Peak is one of the high peaks in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that surround the Great Sand Dunes area. I had him stand and point and I arranged him so that his pointer was right at the top of the mountain in the picture I took. The one where he faced the camera I kept for us. The one where you can only see the back of his head I posted on the blog. Groucho and Stella got a kick out of it. I don’t know why I was so broke up over that photo. It made me miss Dad and Lawrence so bad I nearly broke down after Benny went to bed tonight. Enough said about it. I guess there will always been times, for seeming no reason, that I just miss them and there’s no way to change that. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to change that. How awful would it be to stop missing the people you care about the most just because they aren’t able to be with you like before.
We headed back to camp at that point and did a ranger talk on either side of dinner. First one was called “The Ice Hidden in the Sand”. While the dunes tell a story of heat and sand, there is another story told here, a story of the ice age. We will go through these clues to learn about what this area looked like 12,000 years ago.
I was wanting more than carbs to fill me up so I fixed pork chops and chickpeas for dinner. Went over well so I’m thinking that if we are going to be active, I need to up something … protein maybe … I’m not sure. Maybe I just need to up the healthy calories.
Last program of the day and of the park. This is how it was billed: Surviving Quicksand (and other perils). Come learn how to survive quicksand as well as other Perils! We’ll examine the psychology of survival in any situation and how anyone can use these tips to survive. Survival stories will be shared, as well as some survival star stories/tips if clouds permit. Well there were no clouds so we got more astronomy on top of what we got last night. Luckily, they had said that if there were any Junior Rangers that wanted to turn in their booklets they could do it. That saved us from having to wait until the visitor center opens to leave the park.
We are still in Colorado tomorrow. Four nights in the same camp site. It almost makes me wish we had a tow behind with a small vehicle so we could leave the van in camp but that’s not the way this works so I’ll stop thinking of my wants and be thankful our needs are being met. I was checking my blog account while out today and unless they return it, it looks like someone bought a huge order of gluten-free camp food and some books through my affiliate links which means I will almost definitely make $500 this month. Yea Buddy, that’s good. If I can get it to where it is a solid $500 income I’ll sleep a lot better. I need to balance content with affiliate links, and time with effort to bring in a paycheck. Ah my aching adulting head. Time for bed.
Cumulative Fuel Expense: $2857
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $988
Cumulative miles: 6830
Resources:
Great Sand Dunes Oasis- Great Sand Dunes National Monument (greatdunes.com)
Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Night Sky: Experiencing the Night
Medano Creek: Medano Creek
May 21st
We were back at the sandboarding for a couple of hours this morning. I think Benny and I sufficiently used the boards so that I can say we got the full value of the rental of the equipment. We left the park and went the four miles to turn it back in rather than pay for an extra day by turning it in tomorrow. Then I kept going.
“Aunt Gus? Aren’t we going back?” Then he saw my smile and he said, “A surprise?!”
“Yeppers Little Bear. We used our time wisely so I’m able to sneak in something I didn’t think we’d be able to do.”
“Yay!”
Zapata Falls is a short hike on Bureau of Land Management land. We could have just driven to the trail head and that would have been enough. From there we saw beautiful views of the entire dunefield and of the San Luis Valley.
From the Visitor Center we drove south about eight miles before turning left onto a rough dirt road which thankfully was well marked. Then it was another three and a half to the trailhead. From the parking area at the trailhead, we only had to hike a half mile, but from that point we had to wade some deep water – it was over Benny’s head so he road piggy back – and then we got to see the 30 ft. high fall cascade onto a ledge.
There’s a sign at the start of the trail that briefly gave me a second thought until someone coming back gave us the trail conditions were fine except the water was a little deeper than normal. Caution: Rocks are slippery. Water may be deep and swift in early summer during snowmelt, or during heavy thunderstorms. Rarely, rocks may fall from above into the crevasse. In winter, the falls freeze, creating an icy sculpture. Ice and snow may make the hike very slippery. Falling ice may be a hazard in spring.
Then I took Benny to another special overlook. A ranger had explained to us that Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve are surrounded on the north, south, and east by lands managed by the US Forest Service, including the Rio Grande National Forest (west side of the Sangre de Cristos) and the San Isabel National Forest (east side of the Sangre de Cristos). Eight 14,000' peaks and many other peaks, valleys, alpine lakes and streams are found within these two national forests. At one of the pullouts was a sign and I let him read it. Yes, it was a little slow and painstaking, but his reading skills are heck of a lot better than a lot of five years old even with the dyslexia which mostly is only in his writing now that he is learning words as pictures and not phonetics.
Of course, there were words he didn’t know but then he stopped and his mouth fell open and he looked at me.
“What?” I asked him trying to hide my smile.
“That mountain is called Little Bear Peak!”
“It is? You sure?”
“It says it right here! Right here on the picture sign!”
I laughed. “Yep. Thought you would like that.”
“Wow.”
At 14,037' Little Bear Peak is one of the high peaks in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that surround the Great Sand Dunes area. I had him stand and point and I arranged him so that his pointer was right at the top of the mountain in the picture I took. The one where he faced the camera I kept for us. The one where you can only see the back of his head I posted on the blog. Groucho and Stella got a kick out of it. I don’t know why I was so broke up over that photo. It made me miss Dad and Lawrence so bad I nearly broke down after Benny went to bed tonight. Enough said about it. I guess there will always been times, for seeming no reason, that I just miss them and there’s no way to change that. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to change that. How awful would it be to stop missing the people you care about the most just because they aren’t able to be with you like before.
We headed back to camp at that point and did a ranger talk on either side of dinner. First one was called “The Ice Hidden in the Sand”. While the dunes tell a story of heat and sand, there is another story told here, a story of the ice age. We will go through these clues to learn about what this area looked like 12,000 years ago.
I was wanting more than carbs to fill me up so I fixed pork chops and chickpeas for dinner. Went over well so I’m thinking that if we are going to be active, I need to up something … protein maybe … I’m not sure. Maybe I just need to up the healthy calories.
Last program of the day and of the park. This is how it was billed: Surviving Quicksand (and other perils). Come learn how to survive quicksand as well as other Perils! We’ll examine the psychology of survival in any situation and how anyone can use these tips to survive. Survival stories will be shared, as well as some survival star stories/tips if clouds permit. Well there were no clouds so we got more astronomy on top of what we got last night. Luckily, they had said that if there were any Junior Rangers that wanted to turn in their booklets they could do it. That saved us from having to wait until the visitor center opens to leave the park.
We are still in Colorado tomorrow. Four nights in the same camp site. It almost makes me wish we had a tow behind with a small vehicle so we could leave the van in camp but that’s not the way this works so I’ll stop thinking of my wants and be thankful our needs are being met. I was checking my blog account while out today and unless they return it, it looks like someone bought a huge order of gluten-free camp food and some books through my affiliate links which means I will almost definitely make $500 this month. Yea Buddy, that’s good. If I can get it to where it is a solid $500 income I’ll sleep a lot better. I need to balance content with affiliate links, and time with effort to bring in a paycheck. Ah my aching adulting head. Time for bed.
Cumulative Fuel Expense: $2857
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $988
Cumulative miles: 6830
Resources:
Great Sand Dunes Oasis- Great Sand Dunes National Monument (greatdunes.com)
Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Night Sky: Experiencing the Night
Medano Creek: Medano Creek
