Been there, DUNE that!

We have wanted to get out to the Dunes for quite awhile, but timing of life has gotten in the way until now. I'll be honest, until I moved here, I did not know that North America's tallest dunes were in Colorado! I guess I had never really thought of CO as desert-like!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

We were actually kind of glad the timing had us going in September because I'm not sure the June-August summer heat would've allowed us to take the dogs. The highs while we were there were mid-70s and the overnight lows in the 40s [perfect camping weather!].

Not quite half-way up to High Dune

We decided to load up on water and make the trek to the top of High Dune. With a 700' climb, we figured it would be cake! What we did not account for was the lack of rain in the past weeks. This, combined with high winds, made the sand very loose and deep. Rain can help firm it up which makes it easier for hiking. It was definitely very different having your foot sink in a few inches with each step you took.

One of the many ridgelines we traversed on our way up

The hike was pretty slow going as a result, but at least the weather was not hot! We kept an eye on the sand temperature (actually, I hiked most of it barefoot) so that we knew when it was time to put the booties on the girls. About half-way up, we stopped to rest and eat our lunch. Sequoia had a blast playing with the little wiener dog that was off leash. From our lunch location, you could see a ton of dunes-goers [most of which would never make it as far as we had for lunch].

Our lunch location-- aren't the girls cute?

After lunch, we had two more major dune ridgelines to traverse before we had a more gradual climb to the top of High Dune. At this point, the girls were doing better than I!

We are almost to the top!!

From the top of High Dune, we got to enjoy 360 degree views of the Sangre De Cristos, the San Juans, and sand dunes for as far as you could see! There were several folks who had hiked to the top with snowboards, so we enjoyed watching them cruise down the dunes. The secret is apparently WD-40. Not that you'll ever get me to hike up those dunes with a snowboard in tow!

Family photo at the top of High Dune

On the way down, the girls paws got hot. Sequoia started to walk funny and would randomly sit down. After we got their booties on, they charged full-speed down the dunes. Going down was (obviously) much easier than going up. While we had to zig-zag all the way up, we took the faster, more efficient way down.... straight. It was quite fun!

Dave with the girls and their booties