Star Dune is currently tied with Hidden Dune as the two tallest dunes in North America. It is a majestic dune now measuring 741 feet (225 m) from base to summit. While it can be hiked from the summit of High Dune on First Ridge, it's more direct, and less up and down, to access it via its base along the Medano Creek bed. From the Dunes Parking Lot, hike about 2 miles (3.2 km) south down the Medano Creek bed until the massive pyramid-shaped Star Dune comes into view. Follow a ridge to its summit.
Check out this 3.0-mile out-and-back trail near Gardner, Colorado. Generally considered a challenging route. This is a very popular area for camping and hiking, so you'll likely encounter other people while exploring. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime.
Great Sand Dunes National Park is another International Dark Sky Park and has Park Rangers that lead you into the park at night so you can gaze at the stars in the night sky and look for the Milky Way. In the month of August, the Perseid Meteor Shower is visible in the night sky. Not into star-gazing? How about sand sledding and sand boarding? You can also try your hand at this activity near the park entrance. Contact the Great Sand Dunes Oasis Company to rent sand sleds and boards.
We took a non-stop flight to Denver, Colorado, where we rented a car and then drove four hours to Alamosa, Colorado (Via I-25 S. and then US 160 W - 234 miles). We wanted to stay in Alamosa because it is only 34 miles from the entrance of Great Sand Dunes National Park. We stayed at the Best Western – Alamosa Inn at 2005 Main Street for two nights. The hotel was pretty nice and was located in a good part of town. It also had a very good (free) breakfast every morning.
Great Sand Dunes National Park has the tallest sand dunes in North America. Some of the mounds reach up to 755 feet high. The tallest sand dune in the park is “Star Dune,” and the second tallest is “High Dune.” This national park is nestled against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, with two creeks running along its edge: the Medano Creek and the Sand Creek. It also thrives with seven individual “Life Zones” within and around the park area. Most of the sand in this park was blown in from the San Juan Mountains, which are located 65 miles west of the park.
- Alpine tundra
- Subalpine
- Montane forest
- Dunefield
- Sand sheet and grassland
- Salt-encrusted plain or sabkha
- Stream sides and wetlands
If you want to attempt to climb to the top of the largest sand dune in the park, it will take you several hours (if not all day) to do so. You may even need to pack overnight gear and take it with you to the top so you can spend the night! Also, it is recommended that you wear close-toed shoes and bring plenty of water with you if you attempt to climb to the top. I have also heard that it is physically very hard to climb to the top of the sand dunes because the sand is very soft and deep. So, please do some research ahead of time and make sure you talk to the Park Rangers when you arrive at the park to find out what you should do if you want to climb to the top of the dunes. It is highly recommended that you do not climb the sand dunes during the summer months (especially during the day time hours). The sand dune surface in the summer can reach up to 140 degrees. If you visit this park during the Summer months, please plan to hike the dunes in the very early morning hours or late in the evening when the surface temperature of the sand dunes is a little cooler.
In the early Summer months (May/June), you can also splash/float in Medano Creek when the water flow is at its highest level. So, bring an inflatable float with you if you visit the park during May and June! Pack a picnic lunch and bring it with you while you relax at the Medano Creek area of the park. I hear it is a great place to do just that!
When we visited the park, we hiked the Montville Nature Trail, the Wellington Ditch Trail and the Pinon Flat area. For us, the trails were easy to hike. You do not actually realize how large the sand dunes are until you really get a good look at them from up on the Montville Nature Trail. We took some great pictures of the dunes while we were up on this trail.
In the park, there is an area called the “Point of No Return”. If you are driving a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle, then you are allowed to go into this area of the park. If not, then you are not permitted to enter this section of Great Sand Dunes. There is also a Medano Pass Primitive Road that climbs into the preserve area of the park in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Please check with the Park Rangers before you travel into this area of the park to make sure road conditions are favorable, and the vehicle you are driving is permitted into this area. (You definitely do not want to get stuck in some deep sand or on some rocks trying to navigate in this area.)
From the Visitor’s Center, you can walk out to the edge of the sand dunes to get a closer look at them. Just keep in mind that you may get your feet wet because you may have to walk through some trickling water coming from the creeks around the area. We had to actually jump over a few small creeks/streams and navigate around some higher water to get to the edge of the sand dunes in order to get a closer look at their enormous size. It is, however, worth the walk (and getting a little wet) to get to the edge of the dune field. You will definitely see the massive sand dunes from this viewpoint and how deep the sand is on the dune field. You will also realize that is why they call the park: Great Sand Dunes National Park!! You will see people who have already climbed to the top of the largest sand dune and you will see people on their way up to the top. The people look very small compared to the overall size of the sand dunes.
After taking all the pictures we wanted and buying all those wonderful souvenirs at the Visitor’s Center, we headed back to our hotel in Alamosa to clean up and get ready for dinner. We enjoyed our trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and we were very glad we took the time to stop by the park for a visit.
FYI: Alamosa has few unique gift shops in town, so your shopping opportunities are very limited. It does, however, have a real nice little restaurant: The 4th Street Grille, 408 Fourth Street. It also has a few Mexican Restaurants in town. We ate at one of them and really did not care too much for the Food. (After all, we are from Texas and tend to be very picky about the Mexican Food we eat!!) After staying two nights in Alamosa, we headed to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
We drove only 2 hours 45 minutes (via US 160 E and I-25 N—165 miles) to our hotel in Colorado Springs. We stayed one night at the Best Western Plus Peak Vista Inn & Suites, 7265 Commerce Center Drive. It was a very nice hotel in a very nice part of town (with a free breakfast, of course)!
What can I say about Colorado Springs, other than, we truly love this city!! There are so many wonderful things to see and do in Colorado Springs, Colorado! We have visited Colorado Springs at least four times, and each time, we find something new to see and do!! In previous visits, we rode (The Broadmoor) Pikes Peak Cog Railway (a/k/a “The Cogwheel”) up to the top of Pikes Peak (twice). The first time we rode the Cogwheel up, it only went 3/4ths of the way because of inclement weather. The winds at the top of Pikes Peak were too strong for the Cogwheel to make it up all the way! So, we made a second trip up to Pikes Peak on the Cogwheel (years later) and, finally, made it all the way up to the top!! (When you finally make it to the top of Pikes Peak, make sure you get an order of the donuts they make up there…they are awesome donuts!! They told me that it has something to do with cooking donuts at a higher elevation!) We also rode on the Royal Gorge Railroad, visited the Royal Gorge Amusement Park area, and walked across the Royal Gorge Bridge (1,003 feet above the Arkansas River). We visited the amazing Cave of the Winds and climbed up (The Broadmoor) Seven Falls too. And, of course, THE GARDEN OF THE GODS…which is the park I am going to write about in this article!
The Garden of the Gods is located at 1805 N. 30th Street in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is a very beautiful park and a total “must see.” It is free to the public – no fee charged to enter (or park) at this wonderful park! We usually get a map at the Visitor’s Center and then head out for hours hiking in this park. The paths are mainly paved and very easy to navigate. Most people start at the North Garden parking lot and walk first through some paved foothills to connect to the Gateway Trail.
The Gateway Trail will then cross the road to begin at the Central Garden Trail. The Perkins Central Garden Trail is an easy 1.5-mile loop, with a 30-foot rise in elevation, in the heart of the park. You can see beautiful scenery all around and spectacular red rock formations on this trail. The Ridge Trail is more of a moderate (1/2 mile) hike, with less than a 100-foot rise in elevation. It is a rougher pathway to hike among the rocks, but it is worth the trip up to the top. The Siamese Twins Trail is also a more moderate hike (1/2 mile with 150-foot elevation change) with unique views of Pikes Peak (through the natural window of the twins) and the mountains surrounding the area. You will be able to take some amazing pictures of Pikes Peak in the background when you get to the top of these trails. There is also a beautiful loop you can drive around in the park. It is a one-way drive around the loop with plenty of stops at viewpoints and at trail heads you will (definitely) want to take some time to jump out of your car and hike. We saw some deer on the loop while driving around, so please be aware that deer and other wildlife are in the area as you drive around the loop and hike some trails.
The Garden of the Gods Visitor’s Center has many beautiful items you can purchase. It also has a movie to watch and a very nice place to eat. They also have some great information about the park and a small museum that shows a lot of the wildlife you can encounter while hiking in the area. We really do love this park and cannot say enough about it. You will not regret the time you take to stop and see this park, even if you only have just a few hours to spare. After you visit The Garden of the Gods, we are sure (in the future) you, too, will be hooked and return to visit this park every time you happen to visit Colorado Springs.
Museum
Gift Shop
About the Colorado Springs – Garden of the Gods Location
The Garden of the Gods is one of those must-see Colorado locations, full of gorgeous landscapes and fun things for the family to enjoy. It is also home to the nearby Black Bear Diner, where families have come for delicious food and a relaxing atmosphere for years. Whether you want to fill up before heading to the Garden or need to relax afterwards, there’s no place quite like it.
After hiking in The Garden of the Gods for several hours, we were looking for a great place (close by) to eat…because we were starving, and my husband was afraid I might be starting to get “Hang-ry”! (He has learned over the years that is when I am at my worst…when I am really hungry!) And that is when we happen to see it…our first ever Black Bear Diner right by the park exit. YAY!! We just had to stop! The big carved wooden Black Bear was beckoning us in…we could not help it! LOL!! You might not know it, but I am a sucker for that type of “touristy” restaurant! We were very glad we stopped to eat at the Black Bear Diner! The Food was wonderful! They serve some very good “down home country” types of Food. That is one of my favorite types of Food to eat! (It reminds me of when I was a little girl visiting my Grandma in East Texas!) We like the restaurant so much that we make sure we stop every time we come across one on our trips out West. Just recently, we stopped to have lunch at a Black Bear Diner in St. George, Utah (I mentioned it in my last BLOG)!
There are also many more things to see and do in Colorado Springs. Here are a few things that we have not had the time to stop and visit (yet) in Colorado Springs: The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (ranked the #4 Best Zoo in the USA) and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Colorado Springs also has some pretty nice state parks around the area you may want to visit and hike too. So, please do some research about the area before you visit! Maybe we will visit some of the places we have missed on our next trip to Colorado Springs? I am sure there will be a next time because we do love the city so much.
We left Colorado Springs and headed (on I-25 N and I-36W - 133 miles) to Estes Park, Colorado. It took us 2 hours and 25 minutes to drive to our hotel in Estes Park. (From Denver, you can drive I-25 N all the way to Estes Park. It will take you about 1 hr. 30 minutes. It is only 74 miles away from Denver! FYI: Rocky Mountain National Park is the only National Park in America with a major interstate from a big city, like Denver, almost straight to a National Park!)
We stayed three nights at the Best Western Plus – Silver Saddle Inn located at 1260 Big Thompson Avenue in Estes Park. We were very excited that we were finally going to visit Rocky Mountain National Park for the first time ever!!
A few months before our trip, we booked two tours with Wild Side 4 X 4 Tour Co. located at 212 East Elkhorn Avenue in Estes Park. An “Elk Rutting Tour” and a “Top of the World Tour”. The Top of the World Tour took us across the Continental Divide up to the Alpine Visitor’s Center at 11,796 feet. The trip up the Rocky Mountains to visit the “Top of the World” consisted of a lot of hairpin turns, switchbacks (on unpaved roads at the very edge of mountain dirt roads) in an open-air vehicle. To say it was quite scary is probably a huge under-statement! It was also very cold on the way up the mountain, and we all insisted that we keep the tarp off the top of the vehicle because we wanted to see all the beautiful snowy mountains and fabulous scenery all the way to the tippy top of the mountain! (I will admit that I did say a few prayers on the way up the mountain on that tour!)
We did, however, have a ton of fun on the tour (even though it was very cold outside)!! We also got to ride on the Trail Ridge Road back down the mountains to Estes Park. The views of the numerous snow-capped Rocky Mountains, all the alpine tundra, some wild animals, and the crazy switchbacks on the road (which were paved on the way down the mountain…YAY) were incredible! We stopped at many scenic viewpoints on the way back to Estes Park. We also had a blast when our driver/tour guide played John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” song all the way back down the mountain to town. He played it so loud that I think some people in Denver may have heard the song too!! LOL!! We enjoyed the tour so much that we were looking forward to the Elk Rutting Tour we booked for the next day. We even asked for the same tour guide (who, by the way, grew up in Florida)! We did not think about it until we were back home. He was a young guy from Florida (which is a very flat state) driving us on all those curvy, mountain roads in Rocky Mountain National Park! We probably should have asked for another driver with some mountain road driving experience! LOL!!
The next day, we set out again to see the big Bull Elks do what they do best during “Elk Rutting Season”! (I guess that is a good way to say it?) Well, we got back into the open-air vehicle once again and headed back into Rocky Mountain National Park. We were looking forward to seeing the large elks up close and personal! After driving around only a little while, there they were! A very large Bull Elk with his harem of female elks. There had to be around 50 to 60 elks everywhere. They stood near a beautiful lake with some scenic mountains in the background. It was definitely a great Kodak Moment for me!! I must have taken at least 100 pictures! The large Bull Elk started making the “bugling sound” warning any young males in the area to stay away from his females. That was pretty awesome to hear and actually see it happen in the wild! Our tour guide pointed out a few of the other male elks that were hanging around trying to steal a female or two from the big Bull Elk’s harem. Our tour group was pretty close to the large Bull Elk, and the tour guide also told us to get ready to run if he charged in our direction. Thank goodness there was a small lake between us and the large Bull Elk. He only threatened to charge in our direction a few times, but he stayed where he was; bugling the whole time and defending his female harem from the other male elks. At times, he looked like he was just posing for all the tourists so they could take some great pictures of him. He was really an impressive-looking Bull Elk!
When we finally left the area where we saw so many elk, we came across many more elk on this tour. Some were all alone, and some were with a few other elks following along in a small group. It really was a wonderful and informative tour. We stopped at a few scenic points in the park and then headed back to town to clean up, (warm up) and get ready to go out for dinner. We really enjoyed the two tours we took in the park and recommend that you book an “Elk Rutting Tour” and/or a “Top of the World Tour” with Wild Side 4 X 4 Tours if you ever plan to visit Rocky Mountain National Park during the Fall months.
While we were visiting Estes Park, we stopped to shop at the Red Rose Rock Shop, 490 Moraine Avenue, Estes Park. I always take the time to browse through rock shops when I can find them. I love to collect all different types of rocks and fossils. This shop was quite unique, had a very good selection available, and was one of the best rock shops I have ever seen.
We also went to eat at the The Grubsteak Restaurant at 134 W. Elkhorn Avenue and the Casa Grande Restaurant at 220 E. Elkhorn Avenue. They were nice restaurants with a large selection of items available for you to select from their menus. In fact, I thought that Estes Park had quite a few good restaurants available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The next day we said goodbye to Estes Park and drove (74 miles – 1 hour 30 min.) to Denver to spend the night before we flew back home to Tampa. However, before we drove to our hotel near the Denver Airport, we first stopped by the Denver Zoo for a visit. The weather outside was great, and we were not ready to spend some time at our hotel. That would be way too boring!! We have visited many zoos around the country and decided that it was finally time to visit the Denver Zoo. So, we walked around the zoo for a few hours, enjoying the beautiful day. It really was a nice zoo to visit and we took a few great pictures of some amazing animals in the park.
We really enjoyed our trip to Colorado to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park, The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs (once again), and the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a wonderful seven-day trip, and we felt like we were gone much longer than just a week. When that happens, you know it was a fabulous trip! We really enjoyed getting away from it all and loved visiting another beautiful part of this country. We especially love visiting a state that has huge snowy mountains, great wildlife, pristine lakes, and totally amazing scenery! So, go visit Colorado real soon so you can see just how beautiful it is for yourself!!
(FYI: Colorado also has two more National Parks you can visit. We visited Mesa Verde National Park and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park several years ago. They are both very beautiful National Parks, and we highly recommend that, if you have time, you stop by to see them while you are in Colorado. You can even take a ride on the Durango-Silverton Railroad while you are near Mesa Verde National Park. We did, and it was a ton of fun!)
ALMA'S PHOTO ALBUM
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