“The sun will come out tomorrow!” Or maybe the next day after that… Monsoon season!!! It rained most of the night with wild winds and lightning. It might also be interesting to note that I disagreed with Scott on where he wanted me to set up the tent last night because I found a spot that wasn’t so hilly. However, my flat spot also happened to be between two trees that were entwined and creaking loudly once the wild winds whipped up. Then the lightning started shortly after everyone drifted off to sleep and I was quite sure the trees were going to get struck and land on us. Thankfully no one else worried about those things and they all slept decently well despite the storm.
After we cleaned up our campsite at Dry Gulch Campground we headed to Curecanti Visitor’s Center to get the Junior Ranger badges.
The ranger happened to have taught at University of Illinois for about ten years. He taught classes for pilots and airplane mechanics. This conversation all came up because of Scott’s Illinois Bone Institute t-shirt. He happens to have a case of them at home, but only brought a couple. We will have to remember fun Illinois t-shirts for Scott for our next vacation. The picture of the large W on the hill was spotted in Gunnison across the street from Western State Colorado University. Supposedly it is the largest letter on a hill in the world, or so the table of Veterans said at the McDonalds in Gunnison. Yes, I said McDonalds. We actually ate breakfast at McDonalds for the first time this whole trip to avoid the morning rain. The temperature was at a crazy low of 57 degrees at 10:30am. After breakfast we headed towards Great Sand Dunes National Park and arrived at 1:40pm. Upon entering the park a ranger looked our van over and asked, “What did you do to your poor van?”
The brochure at Sand Dunes National Park kept mentioning to wear closed toed shoes because in the summertime the sands can get quite warm. However, the low temps made our sandals a perfect pick since we had a very fun stream to wade in before we reached the sand dunes. Notice Cody holding on to his hat in the stream? That should have been a sign to put it away before we started climbing higher and the winds started to pick up.
We hiked straight up for about a half hour. It was not an easy hike. Trying to climb in sand requires a little patience, especially when the wind is whipping the sand at your legs and face.
The kids were sliding, surfing, and running down the dunes. Unfortunately a millisecond after I took the photo above to the right, Cody fell.
Poor Cody was spitting out sand for the next twenty minutes. It didn’t let it stop him from trying to make a sand castle every five feet though.
Almost to the top! At least the top we were going to. The kids hiked straight up for thirty minutes. Cody was pretty exhausted ten minutes in, but he didn’t say anything. He just kept walking and digging. See the dark looming clouds behind Brooke in the middle picture? They come into the story a little later. The picture on the right is of my feet and my ridiculous sandal tan. It was at this moment that I closed my eyes and pretended I wasn’t getting sand blasted onto every piece of exposed skin and that the ocean was only a few feet away. With my eyes closed a peaceful smile crossed my face. Then I woke up and clamored after my wee ones.
About five minutes before this picture was taken the winds went absolutely nuts. Cody’s hat went flying over a large ridge. Brooke didn’t hesitate. She went flying after Cody’s hat and saved it. Then Cody beyond exhausted wanted to take off his sandals but didn’t feel he had the energy to carry them. Brooke offered to carry Cody’s sandals. She carried them the rest of the way up and all the way down.
After a few photos and a quick glance all around at the top we headed back down to hide from the whipping wind. Scott spotted two ladies sand boarding down the dunes. He said hello and they offered to let him try it out. Never one to pass up a new experience Scott took off down the dune, sand flying.
April sandboarding
Scott came up and suggested I try it too. The woman who lent us the board, Ann, from Pennsylvania nodded in agreement and encouragement. And so began my quest to rid my body of sand that lasted at least three days. It was an Incredible ride!!!! I went way farther than Scott and I stopped myself because I didn’t want to have to walk any further back up the sand. What an adrenaline rush! The kids then had to try it out too. They were absolutely adorable riding down together.
Then we continued our walk down. Just as we were enjoying the lessening of wind in the lower parts of the dunes the raindrops began to dance out of the sky. The kids probably would have played in the river a little longer, but the drops of rain were large and cold and the kids took off running. We headed back to the Visitor’s Center and caught the movie and Junior Ranger badges. This is one of my favorite hikes of all time despite the sandblasting we endured. It was truly a unique experience.
This is most likely our last Junior Ranger badge for this trip. The kids loved the displays. We learned the sand in the dunes had magnetite in it. Meaning you could pick the sand up with a magnet. Cody loved playing with a magnet in the sand for a while.
The kids were excited to find a bear box at our last mountain campsite for this trip in Pinyon Flats Campground. They played with the bear box for a bit, but quickly became bored. After dinner I was putting food away in the van and when I popped my head back out again I realized it was rather quiet. I asked where the kids went and Scott mentioned that they went on a hike. My breath caught for a second and then I clarified, “Oh. They went for a hike around the campground?”
“No. They went on the Sand Dunes Hike.”
Panic alarms were ringing in my head, but I thought that the kids would be back any minute, so I kept myself busy by filling the water bottles. And then I realized the kids weren’t coming back. Images of all the horrible things that could happen to them started flooding my mind: bears, overly-friendly people with vans full of puppies and candy, getting lost, aliens… Okay, aliens didn’t cross my mind, but with each step that I wasn’t finding them I began walking and then running. And yet those dark clouds were looming overhead again. The kids had walked themselves close to a mile and a half along the path (Scott says I am exaggerating. He wouldn’t know. He didn’t run it, twice!). Just as I finally caught sight of the kids large frigid drops of rain began splattering everywhere. I had just put clean warm clothing on the kids. Since space was tight I only packed two sets of warm clothing for each kid.
At this point I was cranky, but thankful. Thankful to find my kids, but cranky that I might not have any more clean warm clothing for them, cranky they had wandered off so far on their own, and cranky that with each frigid drop of rain Cody was shaking more and more. Brooke so loves her freedom and Cody so blindly follows his big sis that when I told him he shouldn’t be hiking alone he said, “But I wasn’t alone Mom. I was with Broke.” No one seemed to think the hike was a problem except me. Just as we finally got back to our campsite Broke noticed Scott hopping in the van to try to find us. We took refuge under the restroom roof with another gentleman while we waited for Scott to return. Thankfully the other gentleman was a grandpa type and thought the whole thing was quite entertaining. It helped me put things in perspective, but I am still holding firm that I don’t want the kids out hiking that far on their own just yet. Although I seem to be in the minority on that thought.
I found the kids some more dry clothing and I tried to dry my sweatshirt and hat with my body heat before bed, but it was a long shivering night. Scott put on our first family movie of the trip Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Brooke and I worked on her first solo sewing project. Thankfully Scott had strung lines in the tent literally two days prior, so the inside of the tent was decorated in dripping clothing. Shockingly (notice the sarcasm) nothing dried overnight, but at least the dripping diminished a bit.
This is a must do again National Park, minus the kids running away on their own.
