“On the road again…” Pt. II

[Categories: Photography, Travel, Travel photography, Photography 101 Forever]

The Great Sand Dunes National Park.  Not to be missed.  Definitely a bucket list item.

There are many great dunes in the world but if you’re not likely to visit Namibia, Morocco, or Mongolia; Atacama, Athabasca, or even Death Valley in the near future, these are here in the heart of the Rockies.  If you then feel the need to go climb a rock there are 9 Colorado Fourteeners in the region.  (Fourteeners are the 53 Colorado peaks rising between 14,001′ and 14,433′, not counting 5 others 14+k but that do not rise more than 300′ above ground level despite their elevation.  That’s another story.)

Afternoon

Afternoon

Afternoon

Afternoon

It’s a bit of a walk across the shallow creek bed, dry this time of year, to the base of the dunes.  Then it is up, up, and up.

See the ants on top of the dunes.  Click, scroll down, click, zoom, rinse, repeat:

There are people wayyyyy up there.

The afternoon wanes:

Zapata Falls is in those hills somewhere.

The sun slowly sinks…

The next morning we view the dunes from Zapata Falls, about 7 miles south.  It is a VERY rocky 3 miles of road up to the trailhead but even some cars do it.  The falls are a trickle we’re told, as even this time of year they require a bit of stream wading, from which we defer.  The distant views are spectacular however.

Photos taken around 8:45AM.

A thrilling roller-coaster sandy-road jeep ride takes us to the east side of the dunes.  They are HUGE and these photos don’t do them justice.

Soon after we are on the road again to Taos, New Mexico.

To be continued…