This is just a freak of nature- out among a high plains/sagebrush desert valley in the middle of the Rocky Mountains- with forests on the mountains all around it- is a GIANT sand dune that sits up against the mountain. The prevailing winds bring sand to the area, and then storms push it up against the mountain. The dunes are so high! We stayed in the campground within the park. There is only one, called Piñon Flats. It was pretty in amongst the Piñon pines. But it was also sort of a pain because the campsite was a pull alongside, so our slide outs were just about in the narrow street. The third day a huge diesel pusher came in on the other side of the road and it got a little fun for the cars playing dodge the slide outs!
This park was OK, but several things made it less than ideal. First off, the visitor’s center was closed the three days we were there. How am I supposed to learn all my esoteric information about the park?? And we knew the parking lot was closed, so only after we walked a mile in the sand to the center did we find out the whole thing was closed for renovation. They were opening a trailer for the duration of the renovation but not until we left. Arg. And that does mean we also had to hike a mile, in the sand, back to the dunes parking area after we found the visitor’s center closed. 🤨. The second thing is that there were only 2 moderate/easy hikes. We tried another one up into the forest but it gets steep pretty fast. It seems that most people are there to sled or board down the dunes. It rained our second night there and that did make the sand have a lot of contrast as it dried out. And still, I did not see a kangaroo rat!
Another thing that was disappointing was that we were too early to see the animals migrating through this region. It has been very warm for most of this trip, and when we went to the preserves, there was only a little water and the birds and elk have not come into this region yet. We tried Alamosa National Preserve (which was a crazy drive down dirt and gravel roads, sometimes one way) only to see mallards. Now I like mallards but we do have those in the Sacramento region!
So we were glad we came by here but it is a 2 day stop, not really a 3 dayer. It would definitely be better if the nearby preserves had migrating birds like Sandhill Cranes. We probably will not go back but it was pretty spectacular to see it!
