On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
I look at the last photo and I suddenly believe that spring and summer will be here soon. ~WaterGirl
Karen H
In August of 2019, I spent a few hours at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado as a detour on my way to Taos and Santa Fe. The first sight of the dunes is startling and the photos don’t begin to capture how immense they are.
The approach to the dunes is across the Medano Creek, which was just barely running. In the spring the snow melt causes it to be a fast-flowing stream which makes it popular for water play.
Just a few people to give an idea of the scale of the dunes.
Contrast between the dunes and the surrounding mountains.
Just for fun, I’ve included some photos of the dunes that I converted to black and white and slightly overexposed for effect.
These guys couldn’t have lined up any better if I had asked them to. Sometimes you just get lucky.
A pretty flower outside the visitor center. I have no idea what kind of plant it is, but maybe some of you will know.
Dan B
Flower looks like Cleome, a cultivated ornamental. They’re tall (4′?) and the flower gets more height and cylindrical with a roundish top.
The dunes look amazing! We had a “cottage” (slept 16) in a resort from the 1920’s in the woods between some large dunes in Michigan between Benton Harbor and South Haven. These dunes were only about 150 feet tall and half a mile long, still fun to play on. And there were cool sand critters like Ant Lions to tease.
JanieM
They’re all interesting, but I like the ones in color better, and the first one best of all. There’s something about the starkness of the landscape, and the colorfulness of the tiny people, that I keep coming back to.
No idea what the flower is.
So can someone explain why we saw the hussocks at Mt. St. Helens reseeded and greening up again, while these dunes stay dunes? I mean, my first thought is that it’s so arid, but then, the mountains in the distance have trees, so….?
Dan B
@JanieM: Dunes are caused by high winds that blow the sand so plants cannot get established since it’s moving. They even blow into the forests that are at their steep backs, engulfing the trees. Great Sand Dunes is ar a location where the wind is funneled by the mountains in the background. There’s probably more info on the web. I’m just working from memory from several decades ago.
The dunes on the east side of Lake Michigan are from prevailing winds from the west that roar across the prairies and howl across the lake with no resistance.
Yutsano
“Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you. The spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as the Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah, who would lead them to true freedom. The planet is Arrakis, also known as Dune.”
I mean…I wasn’t the only one thinking of this right?
JanieM
@Yutsano: I thought of that too. “Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, is forever his place.” :-)
Another Scott
@Dan B: Speaking of antlions…
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/how-voracious-antlions-engineer-deadly-sand-traps
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@JanieM: The Dunes are constantly on the move. When they stop they get covered in forest. One of the first colonizers is Sassafras, in Michigan. They have a running root system that helps anchor them in the sand.
There are probably similar plants in Colorado – guessing.
stinger
Great photos of a beautiful place. I don’t even want to use the word “stark” because the dunes themselves are alive and constantly moving. The range of natural wonders on this planet, and beyond, that we get to experience through OTR is beyond amazing. Thanks for sharing these pics.
BigJimSlade
Nice pics! Flowers with those hair-like strands are tough to get a good picture of (it helps, of course, that there is a lot of pretty color and action right in the middle)!
Dan B
@Another Scott: Antlions are one strange looking critter. It’s a blessing to us that they are small. The jaws are huge and fierce looking. Their bodies are pudgy and soft sort of wide teardrop shaped. They need to stay under the sand during the day. The funnels in the sand makes it easy to find them. Great video of an ant being snatched.
namekarB
All nature is magical and these pics are no exception
Another Scott
@Dan B: I don’t know if I’ve ever seen any. Perhaps they are at Indiana Dunes NP as well.
From the Science article cited above:
A tough life! (But worse for the prey, of course).
BTW, Karen H, great pictures. Thanks! :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
LongHairedWeirdo
Ooh! Lovely pictures. And my sympathies for having a name that… well, I once thought “john” was bad because it could refer to a toilet, but these days, that has *nothing* on Karen!
Also, I’m *not* suggesting you make any changes, but be aware that some people will giggle at the term “water play”; it’s used to refer to certain forms of kink. And, again, I’m not saying avoid it, just, be ready to give a mild scowl, or other appropriate reaction, if someone starts chortling or sniggering, or flat out guffawing. (I feel like I flunked the laughter section of guy school, since I have no idea how to guffaw.)
persistentilluion
@Dan B: Correct, Aspens. And I know that because I grew up within spitting distance to the Michigan dunes. Warren State Dunes.
Dan B
@Another Scott: Antlions have to be at Indiana Dunes but I only visited once with friends who were not interested in creatures that were tiny and intensely creepy.
The body is probably better described as pear shaped and flattened. There must be pictures.
Great Sand Dunes get winds from the southwest and winds from the northeast through the passes in storms. Low pressure systems would suck air over the passes as they approach. We get crazy high winds through the passes at the foot of the Cascades and the Columbia River Gorge gets crazy winds from the east and west since it’s the lowest gap on the west coast.
Karen H
@LongHairedWeirdo: I thought the Karen thing would have gone away by now, but it seems to be well established. Oops, I didn’t even think of other meanings to water play.
Thanks for the encouraging remarks about the photos, everybody
Dan B
@Another Scott: Yep, plenty of pictures of Antlions and some large mythical beasts. Jaws with digestion chamber attached.
Dan B
@Karen H: Yes we liked your photos and grant a special dispensation for this Karen Jackal!
nalbar
I love it there. The dunes, the necessity of crossing water to get to the dunes, and it’s contemplative silence. There is even an alligator farm just on the other side of the dunes. All with the Sangre de Cristo mountains looming over it all.
not far to the north is another under appreciated national park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It’s as spectacular as the dunes, but in a completely different way. The dunes, and the park they are in, are accessible, and you can walk anywhere you want, and even ride down them on sand boards. The canyon is not (in any meaningful way) accessible, and is viewed from a distance.
jl
Thanks for great pix of a beautiful park, one of my favorites that I’ve visited. I love sand dunes, mostly to look at because beautiful and stylish, can produce so many different moods, but also sometimes to hike on.
Hiking on them is a blast…. except there’s just too damn much sand and it gets in everywhere. Somebody should think up a fix for that.
jl
What I’d like to see, after covid is over, is sand dunes next to a beach next to a tropical lagoon, with pretty tropical stuff in it.
Edit: but need a few palm trees. Not sure how all that would work together. Maybe add some big rocks between the sand dunes and beach with the trees?
Platonicspoof
Thanks for the pictures, especially the ones with people for scale of the dunes.
Looks like Dan B got the flower right, Cleome serrulata happens to be on the NPS web page ( Rocky Mountain bee plant).
Wag
Great Sand Dunes is one of my favorite places in Colorado. A fantastic landscape with monstrous dunes. I first went on a camping trip with my Boy Scout troop on the early 70’s. I’ve been back many times since, and each trip is special. The campground is my favorite campground in any national park. Sunrise over the dunes is only equaled by a late night hike in to the dunes under a full moon.
Mendano Creek, which runs in front of the dunes, is unlike any that I’ve seen anywhere else. In the Spring, with the snowmelt, it has a pulsatile flow, with wave coming down every 30 seconds. Here’s a Park Service video about the creek: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vqmJLz5lTbE&feature=youtu.be
I cannot recommend GSDNP highly enough. One of my favorite places in the world.
And the photos do an excellent job of capturing the beauty.
frosty
Great pix! I’m looking forward to seeing it. I just made camping reservations for this park in June. There was nothing available in the park, because it’s the high season for the creek to flow and it’s booked solid. Great Sand Dunes will be our last stop on the reboot of the National Park tour that got blown out by COVID last year… unless we make another stop to do a bike ride on the towpath in Cuyahoga River National Park on the way home.
Here’s hoping COVID doesn’t stop this one too.
Origuy
I didn’t even know about this place. I was in southern Colorado back in 2006 (see my OTR entry from a few days ago.) but passed only a few miles from it on my trip. Probably wouldn’t have stopped anyway as I had a tight schedule. It has to go on the list for the next time. It looks like the Sahara; needs camels, though.
Geminid
Thank you for the great photos. I’m sending them on to some friends.
The town of Alamosa is about 20 miles from the Great Sand Dunes, and is a great place to visit. Lots of nice flat walking, including a city park along Rio Grande that begins two blocks from “down town.” I’ve stayed at the Lamplighter Inn, a 50’s era motel of typical two story cinderblock construction enlivened by brick interior half walls on the inside, and panels of luminous greenstone outside. There are a couple of large wildlife sanctuaries in Alamosa County that are stopovers for migratory birds. Alamosa hosts a Crane Festival every April.
Van Buren
In 2012, I drove across country with my younger son (then 12) & met older son at Philmont (huge Boy Scout Ranch in NM). We spent a few days in NM seeing things, then stopped at GSD on the way to Denver, to meet Ms. Van Buren, who was flying in from NY. We had to drag ourselves away from the park and were almost late to the airport. Even though we then went to Yellowstone and Glacier, the boys and I agree if if we get back out west, we must visit again. And if you are into sand, White Sands in New Mexico is also worth the trip.
Miss Bianca
@nalbar: Not necessarily so. There are hikes on the rim of the Black Canyon. Helps to be in shape, tho – in other words, *don’t* take your flatlander buddies up and down! Unless they’ve had a few days to acclimate!
I love the Dunes – great dream of mine is to take my horse down there for a run along the creek!
Xavier
The sand hills of Nebraska are dunes frozen in place by vegetation, mostly grass. I imagine if Nebraska is desertified by climate change they will turn back into dunes. If you’re ever driving that way, the sand hills are a landscape worth seeing.