The Never-Ending Day

Bleary. We left right from my work and talked for nearly seven hours straight. My sister had driven in to my city during the day, and we had set out together almost immediately for Colorado and Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, where we had a mini, almost impulsive, run-away adventure planned. We intended to drive through the night and arrive at the park around dawn, possibly catch some zzz's and enjoy our get-away. It was a sound plan, in theory. In practice, we got halfway through the tiny corner of New Mexico that we bisected before we had to pull over for a nap. It was just a little too much. I pulled the car into a rest area with around 50 other cars already parked, and took about an hour long nap. I actually work up refreshed and after a quick stop for gas we headed into the mountains.

The view from the top

Driving through the mountains at dawn is gorgeous. You watch the changing scenery transform from indistinct shadow into crisp images of valleys and mountains as the sky lightens, shot through with purple and pink. Alisha and I had just turned ino the valley that nestles North America's highest dunes when we slammed to a sudden halt. The road in front of us was full of horses. A large herd, also including donkeys and mules, blocked our path as they meandered across the pavement, grazing on the shoulder and not bothering themselves about us. Eventually we inched through the herd, and watched in the mirror as they closed back in behind us. We went on.

Alisha and I atop High Dune

We finally arrived at the park, driving through to the picnic area near the dunes to find a quiet place to nap. Another cat nap later we were out driving the park roads before parking at the dunes lot and hoofing it across Medano Creek with High Dunes as our goal. It wasn't easy. With our one-step-up, half-step-back pace we inched our way slowly up the tallest dunes, stopping for breathers. We summitted, and were treated to several people running pell-mell down the dunes, only to climb back up and do it again. Alisha and I headed down ourselves, albeit on a safer route, which none the less went a lot faster than the way up.

Looking toward the Sangre de Christo Mountains

We'd had about two hours of sleep in two days, and we were feeling it by midafternoon. We decided to get a campsite near the park, and were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm that we witnessed from the confines of my tent, listening to the hail bounce off the fly. The storm also washed out the roads in our campground and in the park itself, so we couldn't have driven back into the park if we wanted to. We spend the rest of the evening relaxing, and went to bed as soon as the sun set, finally putting our never-ending day to rest.

We did it!