The Great Sand Dunes

Tiffany and I have been talking about visiting the Great Sand Dunes for a couple of years now. We’ve always shied away from the trip because it is long and we weren’t sure how Tucker would handle it. This year, we made it.

The trip to the dunes took about four and a half hours. I brought along an audio book, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I had listened to the whole series before, narrated by the amazing Moira Quirk, and I was looking forward to restarting the series with Tiffany. Tucker did really well on the longer trip but started to get squeaky in the last half our into the park.

When we got there a storm seemed to be brewing. This happens all too often when we show up at a campsite and I’m usually forced to direct Tiffany into the parking spot while being soaked. Fortunately we were able to get parked and leveled before the rain came. The rain was short lived while we ate dinner and shortly thereafter we were treated to a rainbow.

Airstream Base Camp camper parked amongst the desert brush with a clear sky and a rainbow arching above

The campsite we booked was only a short walk to the dunes. Before bed, we went out for a sunset walk. Tucker enjoyed stalking through the brush and when we got to the dunes he got the zoomies. The sand must have reminded him of playing in the snow because he did his usual romp which ends in him scooping up a mouthful of snow. That’s when Tiffany and I saw the instant look of regret and disappointment.

The next morning we got up early, had our breakfast and coffee during the sunrise, and headed out onto the dunes. We had heard that the dunes can quickly fill up with tons of people so we wanted to beat the crowds.

The plan worked better than expected. We were warned that one of the challenges of enjoying the dunes was the sand getting kicked up in our face from the high winds. We were prepared with our Buffs to block most of it but it was unneeded. The rain the evening before had dampened the sand and it kept us from experiencing any of the sandblasting effect.

Our course across the dunes was completely unplanned. We meandered all over the dunes, moving from peak to peak in whichever way seemed interesting. Eventually we reached and adjacent peak to the High Dunes and decided to wander off north towards the Hidden Dunes.

After a long morning of wandering, we headed back to the camper for some lunch. By this time the wind was really beginning to kick up and the sand was beginning to dry. We ate lunch and took a midday nap that was accompanied by howling winds that were only worsening. Worrying that we wouldn’t get any sleep that night before a long trip in the morning we set out early for home.

A couple and their dog walking along the ridge of the sand dunes in the middle ground with the mountains in the background A white dog with black spots in the foreground looking off in the distance with the dunes in the background A selfie of a woman in a hat with her husband and dog in the middle ground digging in the dunes A man sitting on the sand dune looking off in the distance with his white dog beside him looking towards the camera

Overall, we had an excellent albeit short trip to the dunes. I’m really glad we did it.

Disclaimer

I work for Wizards of the Coast. The views expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.