Wayback Wednesday: August 8, 2018 ~ Great Sand Dunes National Park

In the summer of 2004 my parents and I came out to Colorado prior to the start of my first year of college there. One day we drove down to the southern part of the state and paid a visit to Great Sand Dunes National Park. The park has the tallest sand dunes in North America and covers an area of about 30 square miles. Sand dunes are probably not what you’d expect to find in Colorado and the park feels almost like a miniature version of the Sahara Desert, though I don’t think the park gets quite as hot in the summer as the real Sahara. I remember walking all around the dunes with my parents, climbing the mountains of sand, and frequently emptying out my shoes only for them to get full of sand again. The day that I was there I also remember seeing a few people skiing and snowboarding down the sand dunes. Because of the terrain of the sand dunes you can only do very short ski and snowboard runs, but the people doing it seemed to be enjoying themselves. Since that day in 2004 I’ve never gone back to Great Sand Dunes National Park, even though I still live in Colorado, but one of these days I really ought to. I bet you could probably get some really good sunrise and sunset photos there.