finally got the photos. great trip!
we arrived around noon at the dunes to partly cloudy skies and temps around 70 degrees, nice cool summer weather. the dunes are impressive, they start lurking on the horizon from a few miles away from the park entrance, but the most impressive view of the dunes is actually on the 4x4 road leading to medano pass.
not much grows in the dunes, but there is life on the edges.
little yellow flowers castle creek
in the spring, there's a beach at the base of the dunes near the visitor center, from melt in to medano creek. castle creek was pretty nice while we were there, it was low but showed signs of recent heavy runoff.
we climbed up the dunes between the visitor center and castle creek,
this is a pretty typical view from the dunes toward the mountains. the wind is always fierce on the dunes, it was really interesting to see the wind pushing the sand around, building tiny cornices that would break off and tumble down the leeward side.
these lines are everywhere, you can watch them very slowly form and disappear.
after running and jumping back down the dunes, we shook the sand out of everything and aired the 35s down to 15 pounds for the sand at the beginning of the medano pass road. the best views of the dunes are actually from the road, near castle creek. if youve seen the movie "akira" or the southpark spoof of the movie ("bad pie!"), it's easy to imagine a few tentacles, wires and pseudopods attached here, and the dunes moving to engulf the sangre de cristo range. katie took
this picture.
prior to castle creek, the road is easy, rolling, shallow sand and the park service has lain plastic matting along several sections of the road surface where traction is most critical. any 4wd vehicle at low pressure can drive this route...a subaru forester was parked at castle creek, and undoubtedly any other 4wd or awd vehicle could do the same.
after the castle creek parking area is where the sand gets deeper. a vehicle that had passed earlier appeared to have been stuck in about a foot of soft sand, i could see where the tires had been dug in, dug out, and the driver proceeded forward. i suspect this was the jeep commander i caught up with later, i'm not sure what jeep was thinking with the stock wheel/tire setup on the vehicle, but big rims and low profile tires are barely adequate in the bottomless sand that lies in several sections of the road after castle creek.
there are several hiking trailheads, even a fishing hole, as the road leaves the sand and begins the climb to medano pass. the road crosses medano creek several times, the crossings are short and most barely came to the hubs when we were there--maybe 16-20" deep, at most. the road is very easy, with great views of the mountainside and the dunes. since we were following the previously mentioned jeep commander and a brand new f250 (double cab, long bed, mothership), we had time for a few photos, unfortunately none turned out particularly well since it was a borrowed camera and we didn't know how to tweak it for the conditions.
there is only one narrow section on the road, the f250 did need to back up and try again as it's a squeeze between a large boulder and a rock outcropping, but the f250 did fit with the right line. the driver of the commander did eventually go through the squeeze, but the guy seemed to be concerned with breaking a nail or disturbing the coiffure, if such a thing can be conveyed by one's driving. the two vehicles were not together, and their progress up the route seemed halting at best, though the driver of the f250 seemed very competent and only seemed hampered by the length of his vehicle. the driver of the f250 eventually pulled over to let the commander and our truck pass, and eventually the driver of the commander pulled aside to let us pass as well...begrudgingly, we thought at first, until we saw it was probably the poor guy's scowling passenger who was contributing to the guy's driving style. there was no reason the commander should have had any issue with any part of the trail; more proof of the 90% driver theory--perhaps the theory should be expanded to include cranky passengers
. poor dude...when we saw them later, the family in the f250 was upbeat, happy and chatty...the guy and his "trailblocker" in the passenger seat of the commander didnt even look. humph...grumble.
we reached the top of the pass in short order, the route is actually easiest on the dune side, only a couple of steep erosion control berms might hamper a vehicle with a very poor departure angle. we turned around and claimed the
highest altitude campsite, it's either site 58 or mile 5.8, not sure which. it's in a beautiful spot, i wish we'd known how to use the digital camera properly, because from our campsite we had a view of the ridgeline at the top of the pass, several valleys and nearby peaks, the sunset, moonrise, and the beauty of a full moon on a clear night lighting up our surroundings.
the campsites are all equipped with really nifty bear boxes...the latch is operated by a handle that disengages from the box and hangs below the latch, so it must be picked up, engaged to the latch mechanism, and then turned like a wrench. we pitched the tent with the door conveiniently toward moon/sunrise and away from the wind, fired up the grille and had tenderloin on the tailgate at sunset
.
here's katie standing on the bumper...and
here's a shot of our camp.
in the early AM, it started raining, and turned to
snow around 7AM...with
this hill to climb, we decided to pack up quick rather than push our luck. i dont have a locker yet, and the accumulation in the photos was over roughly half an hour. thick, wet, fluffy snow, great for snowmen, snowforts, and snowball fights, not so great for uphill traction. we
didnt have a problem, but better safe. the drivers side low beam went out during the drive up...annoying, more than anything else. i wouldnt have noticed except for the pictures, since we were driving during the day. i replaced the lamps a day or two later, and put the fogs back in yesterday.
the roughest section of the medano pass road was actually coming down the other side...i drove right over
this chunky section, but a stock vehicle would be better off looking for a line first as there are a couple holes and ledges. the tire track is from the passenger side. fortunately the road was still mostly
bare, just wet, and there weren't any other outstanding chunky sections...the remainder of the route was just a narrow dirt road with erosion control berms.
the snow unfortunately turned to
rain by the bottom, where the road comes out next to a buffalo ranch. we didnt see any buffalo, but did see a herd? flock? gaggle? of wild turkey. at the main road, it was still raining sideways, and i was very glad i had a
co2 tank instead of a slow compressor. unfortunately i'd lost my pressure gauge somewhere in utah and had to guess, drive gently, and finish the job properly in walsenburg where i bought a new gauge.
overall a really fun trip, we will be going back. there are quite a few hiking trails to visit, the dunes will be a great long weekend when the snow melts and the sun lasts a little longer.
-sean
