From Zion National Park we headed back through Page, AZ then sorta backtracked across northern Arizona to get to Colorado so that we could get to Great Sand Dunes NM. We’d driven this route in reverse through Colorado a few years earlier when we got within 20 miles of Great Sand Dunes only to have to skip the park to avoid getting stuck in a blizzard. So needless to say, I was keen to get to the park this time around.
We had to go through Wolf Creek Pass (?), which is more than 10,000 ft above sea level. And just like the last time we drove through, it snowed. Living in the South we get snow once or twice a year (maybe), but usually nothing major. And since the whole state of Alabama shuts down, and we have ample warning (usually) and I am hunkered down at the house with a fire blazing in the fireplace, not driving through snow. While it was insanely beautiful, I was still pretty tense about driving through the snow on BIG mountains in the dark. And you could easily tell I was a newbie as I was passed by cars and trucks with Colorado plates whizzing by.
But we went slow and made it through safely. We found a motel and sacked out for the night.
The next morning’s weather forecast wasn’t looking good - cloudy skies, high winds and a very good chance of a snow storm later in the day. But I was determined that we’d at least get into the park this time. With a quick prayer for the skies to clear, we ate breakfast and headed out.
The clouds cleared out, and the sky was a beautiful blue with plenty of clouds to add interest and depth to my photos.
As we drove through the gate to get into the park, the clouds cleared out and the sun shone brightly - it was totally awesome!
One thing I hadn’t realized about actually getting to the dunes was that you have to walk across a creek. Somehow in all the literature I read this wasn’t made clear or I neglected to internalize it. So take heed: I am officially telling you that you must walk across a creek to get to the dunes!
The creek isn’t deep, only maybe 6” at most when we were there, but the problem is that my hiking boots were only 5” tall. Oh well, time to suck it up and cross the snow melt creek.
Amy took a photo of me walking on the dunes. This gives a sense of the scale of this park. But even this doesn’t do it justice because you can’t see the snow capped mountains that dwarf the dunes.
The creek itself is pretty awesome in that unlike most creeks that just flow, this one surges. You have to time it but the water will ebb and flow so that it will be an inch or two deep, then several seconds later a surge of water 2-4 inches high will rush down, then it will recede back to an inch or two again.
We made it across and hit the base of the dunes. The distance and scale of the dunes is deceptive until you see these little moving dots and realize that those moving dots are people!
In my haste, I did indeed pray for the weather to clear and for the sun to shine, and I am exceedingly grateful that it did. However, I did NOT pray for the wind to subside. I don’t know if you’ve ever been battered by wind driven sand that’s blowing at 40 mph but it’s brutal! But since it was still cold we were pretty well bundled up except for our faces.
We drove nearly 400 miles to come to this park only to spend an hour on the dunes. But, it was awesome! I loved it. Bad weather often makes for great photos, and I made several. It was well worth the drive and time to get here.
We tip-toed back across the creek to get back to the parking lot, emptied out our shoes of sand, put on dry socks and went to the visitor center for the last sticker of our trip to put on the truck. The ranger at the center said a possible snow storm would be rolling in later in the afternoon, so we drove to town, ate a hearty late breakfast of pancakes and all the trimmings and headed south to both avoid the storm that was coming and to drop by White Sands one more time before we officially headed home.