Great Sand Dunes National Park

The tallest dunes in North America are the centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, forests, alpine lakes, and tundra.

The Night Before

The plans were to stay somewhere about an hour before the national park because that was as far as we could get with the daylight left. After two failed spots I ended up driving much farther than anticipated and landed 20 minutes outside the park entrance, in the dark, and pulled into the first spot the headlights lit up.

Morning

A colorful sunrise sky over the distant mountains

As much as I didn't want to arrive to a camping spot at dark, it was such a surprising delight to see the beauty we woke up to. We had a slow morning and eventually made our way up to the park.

The Park

This was my second time visiting this park. The first time was in September and it was VERY hot (the sand burned a hole through my socks); this time the temperature was much cooler which was lovely. We stayed long enough for the dogs to see how difficult it is to walk very far in the sand.