Here we are, ready for our first full day at a National Park. We have had some technical difficulties with internet, hardware and software, so our posts are being saved with a slight modification to the post date to keep things in order.
We are at the beginning of the Dunes Loop Overlook trail. We are planning a 4 mile hike that traverses three different trails. At the far end of the Dunes Loop Overlook trail , we will switch to the Sand Loop trail. From there we will hike to the Medano primitive road. We will then take the primitive road back to our starting point. This is where we find out if we are ready to hike or not.
It was a short walk to the trailhead, but it took some time as we tried to adjust to all the tech you can take on a hike now. Our phone is loaded with an off line map from All Trails, so we can see where we are. We have battery backups incase the app drains our phone.
This is probably overkill for a 4 mile hike, but we want to be ready for whatever comes.
In case we had not said it before, the dunes are everywhere around here. This picture shows the height and the breadth of the dunes. The dark patch in the sand is Medano Creek. We are fortunate to be here at a time when the water in the creek is high. (measured in inches, not in feet.)
From this vista, we can see little black ants on the picture. They are actually people preparing to hike to the top of the dune.
We are out in the woods in the mountains of Colorado. It is very different from the walks in the woods back home. First, the air is noticeably thinner. Breathing is not difficult, but thin air does slow you down some. The second difference is the quiet and solitude. There is no car noise, and we have not seen anyone on the trail at his point.
This trail is a few hundred feet above the base of the dunes. While it is in the trees, there are still great views of the dunes and surroundings.
Like this broad view of the plain that leads up to the dunes. The current scientific theory about why the dunes are here is that sand blown across this very large plain over the centuries have been trapped in a pocket created by the mountains at the end of the plain.
Here you can see part of the mountains that surround the dunes.
This unique architecture is believed to have set the stage for the dunes to form.
After we completed the Dunes Over Look and Medano Primitive Road hike, we cooled our heels in the Medano Creek. We took off our boots and put on water shoes. The water felt good.
It is interesting to note that only a few inches of water can run over such a wide path. It became clear that the water table is very close to the surface here.
What you see in the picture below is a very thin sheet of water running down on a table of water just below the surface of the sand.
It is possible to get away from the water, you just have to hike up a dune.
No, we did not hike to the top of the dunes. The first fifty feet of the climb was enough of the experience for us. We will let the others make the trek!
Here is the same plain we saw from the first high trail of the day. We drove about 15 miles down the road from the park before we turned toward the town where we were staying. There appeared to be almost as much space left to go before the plain would reach the next set of mountains. For being known as a mountainous state, there are a lot of very large plains as well.
A great first day of national park visiting was capped off by returning to the park at 11 pm to see the stars. It is very dark near the park because of the circle of mountains and the 15 mile drive across the plain. We tried to take a picture, but it was just black. The camera we have could not capture the beauty of the night sky when there is no artificial light around.
In a true night sky, the constellations jump out at you because they are so bright. Other stars we never see at home are almost as bright as the constellations look in a city. And then after that there are millions of points of light that dot the remaining sky that give a three dimensional view of a night sky that many will never see.
Too bad the temperature was near freezing, or we would have stayed even longer to enjoy the real night sky.