GREAT SAND DUNES, MESA VERDE & BLACK CANYON

Road Trip to Southern Colorado. Why? Because we have never been there

First stop was Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods

We stopped at seven falls and of course we had to hike to all of them.

The steps were pretty steep.

We drove the mini van to the top of Pikes Peak, the road was well graded so it was an easy drive. The kids were grumpy due to the elevation change so we did not stay long

OUR 10th NATIONAL PARK

ESTABLISHED: SEPTEMBER 24, 2004

ACRES: 150,000

HIKING TRAILS: ZERO, you can hike anywhere

Great Sand Dunes was a National Monument when we visited and became a National Park in 2004

It was a little windy and we got sandblasted.

We plan on a return trip, you can actually backpack farther into the dunes and spend the night. Sounds good to me.

GREAT SAND DUNES REDUX

These are the tallest dunes in North America at 755 feet.

You can camp in the dunes as long as you have a permit and set up your tent where it cannot be seen from the road. Apparently the star gazing is legendary and I put this on the list for a return trip. The area is designated a dark sky park.

The dunes contain over 5 billion cubic meters of sand making this the largest sandbox in North America.

You can rent boards or bring your own to slide down the dunes, it is a tough hike back to the top. Sorry, there are no chair lifts.

OUR 11th NATIONAL PARK

ESTABLISHED: JUNE 29, 1906

ACRES: 52,485

HIKING TRAILS: 8

My girls on the hike down.

View on the way out

MESA VERDE REDUX

Leann and I returned for a camping trip in Blaze. The site was not very level so we stopped at Walmart the next day and got levelling blocks. Morefield campground had a unique feature, a laundromat! We did laundry, took showers and logged onto WIFI. Civilization!