We went to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument at about 10 am last Wednesday, and commenced to hike up to the top. I made it about half-way when I turned back. It was hard! You'd really be surprised. Part of the difficulty was that the sand temperature was about 140 degrees, given that the temperature was about 89 degrees and the sun heats up the sand pretty fast!
On the way to Salida, we stopped at the Colorado Gator Farm. They have many alligators, who stay alive in the winter because of a geothermal spring that keeps their pond from freezing over. I myself did not go on the Gator Tour, but my dad and brother-in-law did. We stayed that night in a cute motel in Salida. We went to the hot springs there and chilled in the nice water after the sandy climb.
The next day we had breakfast at the Patio Pancake Place (there is no patio, though, go figure) and drove on a county road as near as possible to the Colorado Trail. That section of the trail goes up Mount Shavano, a 14er. We didn't climb the mountain but the trail took us through a beautiful aspen grove: tall, tall thin white-barked aspens with a small puff of leaves at the top, creating a canopy of leaves about 30 feet up. It was lovely and so quiet.
Stayed that night in Fairplay, at the Hand Hotel Bed and Breakfast. It was a great B&B;, and if you are ever in Fairplay, you should go there! Then this morning, after we got out of our beds, we had breakfast: what a spread! And GUESS WHAT! Next weekend (25-27 July) in Fairplay is Burro Days, where they honor the burros that worked during the gold mine heyday and have Burro Races. (The group that puts it on is the World Burro Racing Ass-ociation.)
We looked in a few shops and didn't buy anything, but drove on to Breckenridge and lounged by our time-share's pool all afternoon. That was nice! And for dinner, we went to The Dredge, the world's highest floating restaurant. We drove home, and now here we are.
I estimate we drove about 400 miles: Colorado Springs to Walsenburg, then over La Veta Pass and to the Sand Dunes, and north through Mosca and over Poncha Pass to Salida; north to Fairplay; north and over Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge; south and east back over Hoosier Pass, through Fairplay, over Wilderson Pass, through Woodland Park and down Ute Pass to Colorado Springs. I also estimate that we spent about 10 hours in the car, too. And we hiked about 5 miles on normal ground and about 2 miles on sand.
A pretty eventful trip, in many ways. I learned a lot but still need to process that. Stay tuned.
Posted by at July 19, 2003 01:43 AM | TrackBackMan, what an AWESOME trip. I am jealous.
Posted by: JosiahQ at July 19, 2003 06:28 PMHey Krista!
Cool about the gators. When Chris and I go canoeing down here in Louisiana, we always see beaucoup gators in the bayou. Very cool. Sounds like a fun vacation!