Great Sand Dunes with Sangre de Christo Mountains in the background

Fri, 8/21/09

San Luis Lakes State Park, Mosca, CO: Well, we survived just fine last night with no running water. We drove over to Alamosa and had breakfast at a neat little café there. The food and service were great. Then drove back to Great Sand Dunes National Park which we can see from our site. This place is pretty incredible. The dunes formed in a curve in the Sangre de Christo mountain chain. The dunes are the tallest in North America (the highest is 750 feet) and comprise more than 330 square miles. The dune area is surrounded by two streams which some say are the lifeblood of the dunes system. The streams bring huge amounts of sand down from the mountains and then the wind blows it back into the dunes. In the spring there is also a phenomenon called “current surge” where the shallow, swift streams form waves which occur every few seconds. This phenomenon occurs only in a couple of places in the world. The huge valley we’re on sits at about 8000 ft This high valley is the most arid in the nation. Left the park and drove back to our site and relaxed the rest of the day. We leave tomorrow for La Junta, CO, and we’ll have running water—hurrah!