We took off early this morning because we'd changed time zones and still woke up at our normal time. We drove up and over the La Veta Pass through the Culebra Range at about 9,000ft elevation. We were heading for Alamosa but got side tracked as we saw the turnoff for the Great Sand Dunes National Park. About a 25 mile detour but well worth it. As it was our first national park for this year we bought an annual pass as we will be going into many more before we're finished.
Heading out of Trinidad towards the pass
Starting to see some hills
Starting to see mountains with a little snow on top
This one has definitely been a volcano in the past
Now we start to see the sand dunes in the distance
A strange phenomenon sand dunes at the base of a mountain still with a little snow on it
Now these sand dunes are big. They are the tallest dunes in North America reaching heights of over 750 ft and covering an area of 30 square miles. The sandy soil comes down the mountains with the snow melt into the valley. It's then blown back towards the mountain to cause the dunes.
We tackled the walk and also had a go on a sand sled. The hard bit was walking back to the top of the dune as by now it's getting pretty hot and you lose your breath in the high altitude.
After lunch we drove out and across the valley that is part of the formation of the dunes
Found this old T model Ford in a farmers field
We drove into Monte Vista because we were told that there was going to be ratrod dirt racing on here this weekend so we drove around the back of this hotel and asked some guys if they knew anything about it and got offered a free camp with electricity for the night.
Then things started to get interesting
These all showed up in the carpark
Look close and you'll see the side arm. Another guy walked into the pub with what looked like a 375 dirty Harry gun slung over his shoulder. We're just going in now for happy hour. Will let you know how it turns out tomorrow.
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