Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Great Sand Dunes are not a mirage!

I recently returned from seeing the Great Sand Dunes en route to Four Corners from Toledo, Ohio! I had never heard of them before, but when I stopped to read the historical information sign near Alamosa in San Luis Valley, Colorado about Mount Blanca, the first of the four sacred mountains to the Deneh/Navajo (and in the Navajo language Mount Blanca is called Tsisnaasjini' - Dawn or White Shell Mountain), I noticed the sign mentioning the Great Sand Dunes and decided to go check them out and was hoping they wouldn't be a waste of time and gas money - and they definitely weren't! I would love to have spent more time there, and was sure glad I was there early in the morning so I could climb on them before it got too hot (and the altitude certainly affected me too), and I saw my first Pronghorn Antelope there, but I continued to Four Corners, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly (de shay), etc.

Click on images to enlarge them.


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Notice the little specks half-way up on the right? They're people!

After leaving the Great Sand Dunes and winding through the beautiful Wolf Creek ski area of Colorado, through the Rio Grande National Forest, another pleasant surprise greeted me near Pagosa Springs: Treasure Falls.




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