The Traveller

Sand in Our Hair, July 2007

For our second father-son vacation together, Mitchell and I picked Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado, which we wanted to visit last year, but only stayed a few minutes because of rain and driving winds.

Mitchell on the road, posing with a U-Haul depicting the Mitchell Corn Palace, which he has also visited.

Day 1…

•Excellent driving day with Mitchell. Staying in Alamosa, Colorado.

Mitchell near Walsenberg, CO

Mitchell at the Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, TX

Day 2…

•We spent the morning hiking the dunes, including High Dune. Against my advice, Mitchell went barefoot, and is now regretting it.

Mitchell on High Dune

Atop High Dune

•Hot lunch at our camp site. Napped through a thunderstorm.

•Left Mitchell in the tent and drove a few miles south of the park to Zapata Falls for a short hike. I could have gone farther if I had anticipated an extended, fully-wet crossing. But I don’t like the water anyway.

Wildflowers, Zapata Falls

Day 3…

•I let Mitchell sleep in while I made an early-morning hike up Mosca Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains Wilderness just east of the park. I made this hike in 2004, but this time I intended to high point at the pass at 10,000 feet. I was, ironically, turned back by the same thing that turned me back last time: poison ivy. It’s rare to see it above 5000 feet, but I have gotten pretty good at identifying it these last few years, and I’m sure it was poison ivy. It completely blocked the trail. I reported it to the park rangers.

Wildflowers, Mosca Pass Trail

Mosca Pass Trail

•In the middle part of the day, Mitchell and I drove to the town of San Luis, where we photographed an exquisite Spanish Mission which featured bronze statues of the Stations of the Cross. It was the pride of the town.

San Luis Mission Church

San Luis Mission

•Later in the afternoon, I hiked southeast along Medano Creek, which is one of the key features of Great Sand Dunes. Along the popular dunes area, the creek is nearly 100 yards wide in places, but never more than a few inches deep. It flows southwest out of the mountains, and some miles downstream simply disappears into the sand. I follow it in both directions. The hike southwest wasn’t more than a few miles, and I was entirely alone.

Medano Creek, upstream

Medano Creek near the dune field

Medano Creek disappearing into the sand

Day 4…

•Driving home day. We saw several excellent and entertaining things on the road.

•Jogged west to U.S. 285 to cross into New Mexico so we could see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. At Tres Pierdras, New Mexico, we encountered a very unusual art gallery, painted bright pink. We were greeted by loud but friendly dogs. The owner, who had the bushiest eyebrows I have ever seen on a human, said we were welcome to take pictures, then disappeared without a word.

Pink Gallery, Tres Piedras, NM

•As we approached the Gorge Bridge, I noticed that the EarthShip-style houses I had seen before along this highway seemed to have grow bigger and more complex. I took a chance and pulled into the “main” one. We were greeted by a man named Charles Shultz, who without hesitation gave us an hour-long tour of the place, called the “World’s Nest.”

World’s Nest House

Mitchell at World’s Nest

• Continued to our last stop, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge northwest of Taos, New Mexico, which I have seen several times, including on the Vanishing Point tour in 2001. Mitchell had never seen it.

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

Mitchell at the Rio Grande Gorge

Sunset, Great Sand Dunes

See the Sand in our Hair galleries at richardbarron.net HERE.