Although many people associate Colorado with swishing down snow-capped summits, there is a lot more to the landscape than mountains. The state also has fertile farms, rolling ranchland the tallest sand dunes in North America. The San Luis Valley (SLV) is a great roadtrip just a few hours south of Denver or north from Albuquerque. This surreal place full of friendly people deserves more time, but if you only have a weekend, here are my tips to make the most of your hours.
I used poetic license in the title of this blog. Although SLV can get hot in the summer, it’s nothing like the Sahara, as the Sahara Desert is 1,791,500 square miles and the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GSD) is 30 square miles. In Colorado, the snowy San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges sandwich the desert, and you need to prepare for chilly temperatures. When I lived nearby as a child, it reached -40° F! But you also need to prepare as you would for a day of hiking and/or beach-going with plenty of water and sunscreen.
Budget travelers will appreciate the $3 entry fee at GSD. There is ample parking, an informative visitors’ center, restrooms with shower sprays to wash away sand, car campsites and permits to camp on the dunes. You’ll get your feet and possibly pants wet as you cross Medano Creek between the parking lot and the sand dunes, but the changing water levels and silky silt make this quite a beach-like entrance to a desert.
Although the correct Spanish pronunciation of the creek would be “meh-DAH-no,” most of the locals say “MED-a-no.” There are a lot of places in Colorado that are technically mispronounced like this, and if you think Coloradoans are uneducated because of it, you are incorrect! I love the Spanish language and try desperately to speak it correctly, but this is the local pronunciation so get on board or at least get over it. Or go to Buena Vista, if you can say THAT the Colorado way! (“Byou-na vista”)
So, stay and play at the creek, or head into the sand. If you are ambitious and have a few hours (most people say two; probably four for me), you can hike 750 feet up the tallest dune, Star Dune. I rented a sandboard in advance in the town of Alamosa although there appeared to be a place just outside of the park also. I had this really ambitious idea of strapping on a sandboard and gliding down the dunes with grace and ease. That was not the case at all… but like so many of my attempted athletic endeavors, I’m glad I tried.
You will see the turnoff for Zapata Falls and several other hiking and horse trailheads. (Ding! I get a gold star every time I use my blog name, right?) I highly recommend the Zapata Falls hike if nothing else. It is only a quarter-mile hike and the falls, tucked into a cavern, are a beautiful sight whether flowing in the summer or completely frozen as they still were in April.
If the desert in Colorado wasn’t enough of a surprise, there is also an alligator farm in the San Luis Valley! International travelers probably don’t know this, but Colorado is not alligator country by any natural method. However, a reptile rescue has been raising gators and many other creatures since the 80’s in the nearby town of Mosca. Colorado Gators Reptile Park is definitely worth stopping for an hour or so to hold a baby gator, safely scope out local snakes, pet the living animals and support a local business.
The town of Alamosa, about 20 minutes from the dunes, is a great place to spend the night. The downtown area offers plenty of options for eating and hydrating. In terms of U.S.-Mexican food, this is the northern portion of roasted green chili country, so be sure to enjoy some with homemade tortillas or even in your microbrew.
I visited to film my audition tape for the “Next Travel Channel Star” contest. I didn’t even make it to the first round of finalists, but submitting an entry was one of my goals for 2015, and I am glad I gave it a shot. I really appreciate my producer/editor/road trip buddy who came with me and who put so much into my audition, and I really appreciate all of you friends who encouraged me to try out!
It was a trip, so to speak, to return to the San Luis Valley after so many years away. In spite of living within 3-6 hours for most of my life, my last visit had been 15 years ago! It was a last hurrah with my high school senior prom date. We went to “the big city,” AKA Denver, for some concerts (Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, which was my first real concert, followed by Blues Traveler at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on the Fourth of July) and then south to Alamosa and the dunes.
I can’t help comparing that limbo summer between high school and college to the place I am now in life – trying to appreciate this relative downtime, but I know a big change is coming. Remember VCRs? On most DVD players, if you hit pause and leave it, it goes to the screensaver and eventually the machine powers down. But on VCRs, if you hit pause and leave it for awhile, eventually it will unpause and the tape keeps playing, whether or not you’re ready and watching. Travel, work and life have all been on pause for me, so I can hardly wait to see what happens next in my story, because there’s no way it’s powering down! Just like my attempt at sandboarding, I have a vision that I’ll glide through it like a pro. In reality, I’ll be lucky if I can stay off my bum for more than a minute, but it’ll be worth the ride!
Your voice matters!