On Sunday, Oct. 6th we drove over 200 miles South and West to Alamosa, Colorado, a nice small city on the high plains west of the Rocky mountain range, with two colleges. On the way there we stopped briefly at Great Sand Dunes National park a few miles outside of the city.
Those are the sand dunes on the left and "great" is an appropriate word to describe them. They are several hundred feet high and several miles long, at the base of the Rocky Mountains in the background. Many people come here to experience climbing to the top and sliding down the dunes on wooden sleds. Yep, those are people in the foreground.
In the background, you can see the Rocky Mountains. The lower range is about 10,000 feet high and the higher ones are over 14,000 feet high. Notice how the top is above the tree line on the higher mountains.
On Monday, Oct. 7th, we decided to explore some more of the area around Alamosa, Colorado. First, we went to the local visitor's center and from there we drove several miles to the Alamosa Wildlife Reserve hoping to find either Sand Hill Cranes or White Pelicans. We took a nice long hike along the Rio Grande River but found only a hand-full of mule deer. From there we drove several more miles into the high desert to the San Luis Lakes State Wildlife Area.
Here is Dad doing his clowning around thing, again.
The reservoir was a recreational lake for Colorado residents until funding ran out and only a campground remains in operation today. We didn't find anything but a few Pronghorn antelopes there.
It was nearly sundown, so we drove back to Great Sand Dunes NP to take a few "Golden Hour" pictures of the dunes in a different light.
Tomorrow we hope to find some Sand Hill Cranes or White Pelicans in two other National Reserves that are near Alamosa, Co😊.
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