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| Great Sand Dunes against the mountains |
I have seen sand dunes--Jockey's Ridge in North Carolina, Sleeping Bear in Michigan, the Nebraska Sandhills--so although I put the Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa, Colorado on my "to see" list, I didn't expect to be impressed.
I was.
The road out of Alamosa takes you northward in open sagebrush country. The mountains draw closer. At some point you realize that the light area at the base of the mountain is a sand dune!
It's a beautiful area:
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| View from the Visitor Center |
I don't have pictures of the Visitor Center, but it was large and full of helpful information.
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| Great Sand Dunes from the Visitor Center |
We walked from the parking lot by the dunes toward the Great Sand Dunes. We didn't realize that Medano Creek ran between us and the dunes. In retrospect it seems obvious that streams wander around sand dunes when they can. The Platte River runs along the south edge of the dune system that is the Nebraska Sandhills.
The information in the Visitor Center pointed to Medano Creek as part of the attractions. The interplay of running water and the sand it carries results in the stream repeatedly damming itself with dropped sand and then breaking through its little dams. Very cool. And of course children of all ages can play in the water and sand.
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| approaching the Great Sand Dunes |
The scale of the Great Sand Dunes swallowed the people.
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| Great Sand Dunes |
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| Great Sand Dunes |
A dune is always a contest between plants which try to grow there and the forces of erosion that keep the sand moving and plant-free. If it is wet or the winds are light, plants invade. Drought, heat and strong winds evict the plants.
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| Looking back toward the parking lot from the dunes |
We were there in mid June. The Great Sand Dunes are at 8,200 feet (2,470 m) and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind them are even higher. So although the sun was bright, the wind was cool: a very pleasant experience. I was prepared for the dunes to be a furnace, and they probably are some of the time, but not when I was there.
The Wilderness Area beyond the dunes beckoned us to explore, but we hadn't allowed time for that. Soon!
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| Great Sand Dunes Wilderness Area |
Comments and corrections welcome.
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