May 26, 2023
Good thing I had a good night’s sleep the night before, as I did not feel very rested when my super early morning alarm went off. After battling with the incredibly rude campground neighbor’s who were still blasting music and carrying on by midnight, I was just exhausted. But I had a mission to accomplish – hiking to the the top of High Dune (sometimes called Great Dune)!
Down from Zapata Falls I went and back to Great Sand Dunes National Park, which is only about a twenty minute drive. I headed straight to the large parking lot, and hit the “trail” (there’s no trail, ha!) at 6:58am. Not as early as I wanted, but still early enough to avoid burning hot sand. I crossed Medano Creek and removed my Chacos, realizing going barefoot would be a lot better.
Climbing up sand is hard, that is all I have to say! Ugh. it was a trudge to make it to High Dune, but of course once I got there, I thought the workout was worth it for the views!
After a snack and messing around taking photos, I headed back down, marveling at the lines of people now heading up the dunes. I realized hiking barefoot on sand is weird, and my feet were hurting in odd spots as the sand spread my toes around. I ended up cutting both of my feet during the creek on sharp rocks, so there is probably something to said about wearing shoes!
Overall, my hike up to High Dune was 3.12 miles with 708 feet of elevation gain. It took me just shy of two hours. Time to scratch this off my “100 Greatest Hikes of National Parks” poster!
With my hike wrapped up and Junior Range badge and patch in my hand by 9am, I knew all I really wanted to do was head home. When I booked camping allllll the way back in November, I had a different plan which would have me heading towards the eastern plains of Colorado to visit Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, Amache National Historic Site, and Mount Sunflower (high point in Kansas). This was a great plan… until I realized end of May put me smack dab in the middle of thunderstorm, hail, and tornado season. I’m quite the fan of my car, and would prefer it to remain hail-damage free, so I struck the eastern plains from my plans, deciding to return in a different part of the year when the weather patterns are less spicy.
I made quick work of packing up my campsite and headed north, marveling at the amount of traffic heading south on this long holiday weekend. I was satsified with my decision to head home a day early, as I truly had accomplished all the plans I had laid.
Overall my trip home went smoothly until I turned onto I-70 from C470. A supercell thunderstorm had made its home over Denver, and I-70 was flooding, there was torrential rain, and my phone kept screaming at me about hail. Not comfortable with exiting I-70 in a part of Denver I did not know to try to seek shelter, I kept crawling along with the rest of the traffic. It took me well over an hour to make it to the junction of I-25 & I-76! The rain continued until about Longmont. What was suppose to be a 5 hour 15 minute drive turned into 7 hours! Arghhhh!
1400 miles on the dot, I was back home to my shower and bed, and all the other luxuries of home.
Stats:
- 360 miles driven
- 9,748 steps / 4.5 miles walked
- 1 NPS unit
- Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve – $25
- **I have an annual America the Beautiful Pass, so no entry fees had to be paid
- Fuel stops
- Longmont, CO ($3.19/gallon)
- Campsite
- My own bed!
The Adventuring Heidi 