USRT15 #4--Dunes and More Colorado Driving

We made it to our campsite just in time for tent set-up. Headlamps made it possible to pitch the tent. We had forgotten matches and we were freezing cold due to the increase in elevation. Friendly neighbors helped us light our stove, we all ate soup, and then we dove into our beds. The sun woke us up early and we packed up just as quickly as we had set up.

Medano Creek in the morning will wake you up. These cool waters flow wide, shallowly, and swiftly from the canyon that runs from the mountains adjacent to the dunes.

We could have played there all day and then another, but we climbed to the dunes. It turns out that dune-climbing is pretty exhausting. We ran up and down three or four times before the sand started to heat up. By 9 a.m., the only way to withstand the heat was to push your feet down into the cooler sand below.

Next time we'll take sleds to ride to the bottom, and we'll journey into the dune field early in the morning or at dusk. 

It was in Great Sand Dunes National Park that I realized how much I could hold onto--eight sandals and four water bottles--with my ten fingers. It's like my body was made for this adventuring with kids.

By 10:30 a.m. we headed back into the dessert near Alamosa, the very spot where my Dad served his mission fifty years ago. 

We followed the GPS and drove southwest through Durango and then into Utah. 

The kids were getting pretty restless, but that southeastern section of the state surprised them sufficiently to keep them interested in the rest of the day's itinerary. Red rock is uniquely beautiful, and the formations made us all a little curious in what we might see next. We still had one more national park to go before getting to Provo to stay with friends.