Cody has been away from home traveling for close to 9 weeks. So this weekend we took a family trip Alamosa Colorado to hike the Sand Dunes and celebrate Cody’s upcoming birthday with a little quality time together.
I have never seen a sand dune before so I was spellbound. Alpine peaks, a desert valley and creeks flowing on the surface of the pristine sand surround the massive dunes. The view between sand, mountain, river and valley was beautiful. We had no idea what to expect on our adventure and were unprepared to cross a large creek in order to get to the Dunes. Live and learn!
Cody and the boys discussed the best way to cross the river. Eventually we opted for splashing through the water in our bare feet. Although the boys had a blast playing in the water before and after our hike, Medana Creek is actually fun AND functional. The creek has a unique and special purpose for keeping the Sand Dunes viable. Medano Creek catches sand blowing from the main dune mass east towards the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and carries it back to the southern edge of the dunes to the point where the creek disappears. When dry, the sand can then blow back onto the dunes in a unique recycling pattern that has played an important role in building these dunes.
Sand surface temperatures can reach over 140° F on summer afternoons, so boots or tennis shoes are required. Of course I forgot my tennis shoes which meant the entire family had to ventured to Walmart early in the morning and shop for shoes before we hit the dunes (part of the fun). Good thing I had comfortable shoes because the large, main dunefield covers approximately 30 square miles, but there are many more square miles of smaller dunes in the sand sheet surrounding the main dunefield. 30 square miles is a big sand box! The cloudy weather and 70 temperatures made our 4-5 mile hike totally tolerable, even for little guys like Cole. When asked if 'you want to go the hard way or the easy way,' Case opted for the hard way every time. He climbed up and down some impressive hills anyone would be proud to have conquered by the end of the day.
The Alamosa Sand Dunes contain the tallest dunes in North America some reaching over 750 feet. The boys were tremendous troopers with little or no complaining. We hiked a while, stopped, emptied the sand from our shoes and hiked some more. We repeated these steps over and over again until we reached our destination peak. We didn’t hike to the highest peak, but it felt like we did. Cole held my hand the entire time.
Family pictures are hard to come by at the top of a mountain, so we had to get creative and silly at times to capture the moment on camera.
Steep hill are hard to climb but fun and easy going down! We forgot to bring our snow sled discs which was a big disappointment but everyone took turns skating/sliding down certain hills on our feet or bottoms which was a fun way to make the trip down even more exciting.
While the immediate surface of the dunes changes constantly, the main dunefield as a whole is fairly stable. Comparing recent photographs with photographs taken in the late 1800’s reveals that the major dunes have maintained their overall shape and position. No one knows how old the dunes are, but science has some clues. As science currently understands it, the dunes are probably thousands of years old and may date to when Lake Alamosa disappeared. Its always an amazing experience when you are able to see something that has survived thousands of years on earth and I am glad we were able to experience these dunes together as a family.
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