Great Sand Dunes NP

11/12/2011
Grace and I took a trip down to Great Sand Dunes National Park last weekend. Originally this was supposed to be a climbing trip, but as the wind and snow forecast for the mountains and surrounding plains increased, or vertical ambitions decreased. In the end, the gear never left the car. Despite this it was still a great trip.
We drove south on Saturday, swerving a bit on I-25 as 50 mph wind gusts buffeted us. We saw one 18-wheeler that had been blown over completly, which made us nervous whenever we passed one on the leeward side. Camp at the edge of the dunes was a bit windy, with the tent flapping loudly all night. We took a sunrise hike out onto the windswept dunes, which is where most of the pictures come from. It's a truly surreal landscape, especial with the wind kicking up the sand into an especially painful form of spindrift.
From the dunes we headed for Canon (pronounced 'Canyon') City, hoping to do some sport climbing at Shelf Road. But again, the wind dissuaded us, and we decided to check out this Royal Gorge thing; there are signs for it everywhere. It turns out that while the gorge itself is very impressive, the park is quite revolting. It's a tourist trap with rides, a miniature railway, the works. We didn't go in.
So in the end, we had a nice relaxed time and got to explore a little more of Colorado. The Great Sand Dunes are definitely worth a visit; the Royal Gorge, not so much.