July 9-12
Left Durango on the morning of July 9 (Happy B-Day Beth!) and headed to the Great Sand Dunes. We didn't have a campground reservation, but didn't think we needed one because it is not one of the more heavily visited parks - besides there were 2 possible campgrounds, one in the NP and one just outside. We knew the one in the park had no hookups so that was going to be the back-up option. We arrived at our 1st choice campground and were a little dismayed by what we saw, actually, what we didn't see. There were no other RVs, trailers or even tenters there - not a good sign. It was touted as a full-service campground with a store, gas station, restaurant, lodge, laundry...you name it, all the info. on the place described it as an oasis in the desert. Hence the name for the place, The Oasis at the Great Sand Dunes. As we drove in to the parking lot of the Oasis we were immediately struck by how deserted and run-down it looked. We didn't even put the truck in Park - I just kept on driving figuring we could still do the no hook-up option at the NP. As we double-checked with the park ranger at the entrance we confirmed that there was no water or electric at each site nor was there a bathhouse for cleaning some of our gaminess off... The Anderson women opted for a third choice, not previously known, of a state park about 15 miles out from the NP which reportedly had "hook-ups." After trekking to the state park we found that it was very similar to the Oasis - deserted and didn't have the reported hook-ups. Our choices were dwindling.
On our return trip we saw what appeared to be some other RVers at the Oasis and decided we'll just have to give it a try - heck, it's only one night. Now that we had circled the area for nearly an hour we arrived back at the Oasis and registered for the night. It was very fitting because just at the moment of unhooking a thunderstorm unleashed its fury with thunder and lightning and a brief shower - what a good time. The Oasis wasn't really all that bad in the end except for the charter busload of teenage boys and girls who were tent camping on the hill behind us...
After all our messing around we still had time to hit the visitor center before it closed at 6:00 and plan our evening and morning activities. While there a ranger described an off-road trail that skirted the dune field and followed the path of the Medano River up into the Sangre de Christo Mountains - sounds good to me. But first we need to get gas - so back to the Oasis.
The first part of the off-road journey began in the soft sands which we had no trouble navigating. The truck, I kept remarking, was made for this kind of stuff... Then the trail headed up into the mountains. I didn't mention that the trail was 11 miles one direction and crossed the river 9 times, all of those on the mountain portion of the trail. It started off rather tame - a little bouncy, but certainly doable. It wasn't until a little later that things started to get interesting. The trail in most sections was barely wider than the truck and quite rocky - kind of like an off-road trail should be. It started to get more rocky though and a little more tight and then there were those river crossings...remember I mentioned we had a thunderstorm earlier. After about 9 miles in and 7 of the 9 river crossings everyone was real quiet in the cab - Katie was feeling car sick, Terry had a terrible headache, and Matt and I knew better than to say anything and the trail was getting rough. At one point, appropriately called "The Squeeze," I had to admit it got a little too dicey for even me. Bull-headed me promised everyone that after we make it through this spot we'll turn around at the next opportunity. Phew, made it through and found a spot to turn around not long after that - now we just have to do it all again, but downhill this time.... It ended up being a very quiet ride back, with the exception of the occasional yelp of "owww" from Matt as he hit his head on the window when we bounced back and forth over the rocks, roots and stumps...btw, there aren't any pictures of this adventure for some reason....
Starting anew the next day, everyone was feeling better (and speaking to me), we set out to actually climb some dunes. The sand dunes are quite remarkable, I won't bore you with the story of how they got there or any of the other inane things that interest me, but will say that they are the highest dunes in North America with the tallest being over 750 feet high (and at over 8000 ft above sea level) - we weren't going to be climbing that one though. We set out with drinks in hand and the landscape looking like we were entering the Sahara Desert. Before we knew it we were all huffing and puffing and not even near the top, but we labored on. We picked out a particular peak to summit and journeyed on all the while marveling at how far away everything looked and how much higher and steeper our destination seemed to be. Terry, a true East coast girl, remarked, "what good is a sand dune if the ocean isn't on the other side?" We didn't make it to the top of our chosen peak, but in the interest of maintaining the health and well being of our little clan, and the fact we were spending the rest of the day in the truck driving to Kansas, we celebrated our climb by carving a huge "A" in the dunes to mark our claim.
Back to the truck and trailer in the parking lot we pointed eastward for our 2000 mi. trek homeward. Made it to Goodland, KS that first day. Not much to say about Goodland other than they closed one of the main roads in town and didn't post any detour signs for the out of towners to know where to go. We figured it out eventually, but had a lot of good laughs about it en route. Next day we made it to Kingdom City, MO. I would have to believe that most, if not all of you, have never heard of either of these 2 towns. Nothing remarkable, although Goodland had a huge replica on a giant easle (house size) of Van Gogh's "Sunflower" and our little campground in Kingdom City rivaled the Oasis in popularity and reminded us a little of the movie Deliverance - it did have a huge paintball course and when the local boys military school arrived in the early AM today we knew it was time to get out of Dodge.