Great Sand Dunes National Monument
Me on the highest peak in the Great Sand Dunes
Me on the highest peak in the Great Sand Dunes
September 2nd - 7th, 2003
What started out to be a quick two day drive to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, turned into a 5 day, 800 mile drive around the state of Colorado. What an amazing and diverse drive. From my home in Dillon, I drove 130 miles south to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument. This is a spectacular drive in itself because you drive right past about 10 of Colorado's highest mountains. The sand dunes are about 900 feet high reaching a maximum elevation of just under 8,700 feet above sea level. You really wouldn't expect to see this in a place like Colorado. The dunes were created by a prevailing wind blowing sand and silt from the banks of the Rio Grande River. The sand was blown east, but several miles away it hit the side of a 14,000 foot high mountain range. Here the sand built up over 2 million years to form the 900 foot high dunes you see today. Amazing! I climbed for two hours before I reached the highest point in the park. The pictures really don't do the justice to show how large the dunes really are. After leaving the dunes, I went to visit a friend in Pueblo. After consuming way too many buffalo wings, I drove east into the flatlands to a town called La Juanta. Here I camped for the night. The next morning I drove to an old historical place called Bents Old Fort National Historic Site. This fort was the busiest fur trading post west of the Mississippi River back in the 1820s. Three major trails, including the Santa Fe Trail, all converged here. The fort was also on the old US-Mexican border. After leaving the fort, I drove to Rocky Ford, Colorado. This is the watermelon and cantaloupe capital of Colorado. I stocked up with two watermelons and four cantaloupe. Yummy!!! Next I drove 100 miles north through the flatlands to Limon. Of course there was no real reason to drive all the way up to Limon other than the fact that I had never driven that road before. Bright sunshine, fields of sunflowers, and fresh cantaloupe made it a very pleasant drive. In Limon I rented an Audio Adventure cassette at the Flying-J and picked up I-70 west. In Denver I stopped downtown at the ESPN Zone where I played videogames with a friend. Back in the high country I bypassed my house and went out to the State Bridge Lodge. This is a really cool music venue/bar out on the banks of the Colorado River. They were having their end of summer bash with Shakedown Street performing. What a great night! There is a campground next door where the party moves to after the show. The next morning I still didn't feel like going home, so I drove over to Glenwood Springs for breakfast. After eating, I decided to have lunch in Aspen. So a few hours later I was doing exactly that. To cap things off I drove over Independence Pass to Leadville and stopped off at the Silver Dollar Saloon. Wow! What a great little road trip.
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