Date of Hike: 10/21/21
3.0 miles (850' elevation gained)
Trip Report
- After finishing our hike of New Mexico's highpoint of Wheeler Peak we drove into southern Colorado and were able to secure a car camping spot inside the Great Sand Dunes National Park at Pinon Flats Campground.
- Sand Dunes National Park is one of the few national parks that allows dogs to travel its trails, or in this case sand dunes, yay for Sarge!
- After setting up our tents we walked over to the dunes and roamed around for an hour. These dunes are the tallest in North America, with the highest named Star Dune at 755 feet.
- Sarge had a blast romping around in the sand, it must have reminded him of running in the snow back home. Hiking over the dunes reminded us of hiking in snow too as we were sliding back in the sand.
- The sand in the park is consistently changing from wind and rain, smaller dunes can appear and even move overtime. The Ute Tribe refers to this as Saa waap maa nache, (sand that moves).
- After hiking along the spine of the dunes and taking in the views of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains that rise high above to the east and north, we headed back to camp and cooked up dinner, had a fire, and were chatted up by a dad and son that were big into rodeos and fishing. We don't get any rodeo talk back in the northeast so it was interesting to hear/learn about it.
- The stars shine bright at night above Sand Dunes National Park, it is a certified Dark Sky Park because of its high elevation, no unnatural light sources, and low pollution. The night we stayed at Pinon Flats there was a full moon which lit up the sky so bright that I didn't need a headlamp in the middle of the night when Sarge woke me up for a pee break. The full moon did mute the brightness of the stars but it was still some of the best viewing I've seen, right up there with Baxter State Park in Winter.
- The next morning we packed up early and hit the road to head back home to New Hampshire overnighting in Kansas, Indiana, western Pennsylvania, dropping off Todd in south Jersey on my way to my parents in Rhode Island for a night before making my way back to New Hampshire just in time to start raking all the leaves that had fallen over the past month.
- It felt good to be back home but I'm already looking forward to the next road trip with Sarge wherever it may take us!
Heading through the grasslands towards the dunes
Todd heads up the dunes
Sarge taking it all in
The dunes reminded us Tatooine from the movie Star Wars
Sarge leads the way to the top of a dune
Hiking along the spine of a dune monster
Sarge enjoyed himself. He did try and eat the sand that stuck to his pads, I had to constantly get on him and yell, "Sarge, don't eat your feet!"
Todd scoping out the best way back to camp
Running between dunes
One last dune to top out on
Sarge with the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range behind him
One last view of the dunes
Sarge stops in St. Louis on the ride back east
Home sweet home :)
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