This was our final day of long haul driving to get to Colorado. We have traveled about 1700 miles over four days to get to Great Sand Dunes. Each day has been unique, each day has also been a very long drive.
We started our day in Dodge City, Kansas. On our way west we saw a lot of farming. This included cows, wheat, and wind farming among other types of farming.
It has been interesting to observe parts of the supply chain from farm to table. One of the most obvious links has been the feed lots where cattle are gathered together.
Water is a very important part of farming. At least in Kansas, irrigation is done in a circular pattern. This must make a unique view from the sky. We saw many circular green patches all across the state. (Anyone thinking ‘Crop Circles’-Ooh)
Our travel included narrow country roads and highways that seemed to go straight to the horizon.
In some places the plains seem to go on forever. This picture supports the idea that Kansas is very flat. However, the elevation of Kansas rises over 2000 feet from the east side to the west side of the state.
The increase in elevation is building to the time that you can finally see mountains in the distance.
Once you approach the mountains, the scenery changes dramatically. There are mesas,
and wide valleys,
and mountains so large they seem surreal. And yes, there are still wind turbines in the mountains.
You do not really get to see the mountains until you are in Colorado, but once you are there, the mountains are everywhere, and every color.
Some of the mountains are smaller and unique, like the ones in Great Sand Dunes National Park. We arrived in the afternoon so we got to see the largest dunes in the United States. A sand hill over 700 feet high can be seen for miles.
It only gets more impressive as you get closer. It is hard to describe or comprehend how large the dunes really are. The dunes cover over 30 square miles. The amount of sand is overwhelming.
To try to give you one view of the scope of the dunes, we took three photos of the dunes from about four miles away from the dunes. At 60 times magnification the picture on the left below shows people as black areas on the sand. At about 20 times magnification, the center picture of dunes still fill the camera and the people look like specks on the camera lens. At no magnification, the frame begins to show the size, but you only see a portion of the entire panorama of sand and the people are invisible.
This first sight of the dunes and a short trip to the Visitor Center was a great reminder of why we spent four days driving to get to the start of the trip. Now the long days seem like time well spent!