What the !?!?

It's snowing!

Great Sand Dunes - Coming Down

Walking down the Great Sand Dunes is a lot easier than walking up!

The parking lot is a long way down.

On the way down Mark was demonstrating angle of repose. 

To get to the bottom we just dug in our heals and started walking.

We didn’t see the Great Sand Dunes tiger beetle but it is interesting to note that the sand gets to 140° F!

After our walk on the dunes we walked a short 1/2 mile hike on the Montville Trail.



This is one of the views from the top.

This is a view of the Sand Dunes from the top.

We enjoyed our day.  We’ll be coming back to this area to explore some more.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

The Great Sand Dunes are nestled against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

In 1976 the Great Sand Dunes wilderness area was established.  In 2004 the Great Sand Dunes system was designated a National Park.  Although the national park and national preserve are two units, they are managed jointly.  The national preserve is part of the Sangre de Cristo wilderness area, established in 1993.

Our first stop was at the visitor center where we got a map and talked to a Ranger.  He told us we could walk anywhere we wanted on the sand dunes.  

What he DID NOT tell us was that we were going to have to cross water!

Sand Toes!

A whole lot of sand!

We saw a few folks sliding down the ridges.

While I rested Mark kept on going:

And going:

And going:

It’s hard walking up a sand dune!  One step up and two steps back.

I finally caught up with Mark and we reached our destination.

Next time: It's a lot easier coming down!





San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex

We are volunteering at the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex.  It consists of three Refuges. 

Monte Vista NWR was created in 1952 by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission.  It is a 14,804 acre artificially created wetland.  It’s intensively managed to provide habitat for a wide variety of waterfowl and other water birds.

Alamosa NWR is 12,026 acres of upland areas, riparian corridors, wet meadows, and river oxbows.  It was established in 1962 as a haven for migratory birds and other wildlife in the San Luis Valley.

The third refuge is not open to the public.  It is the BACA NWR and was established in 2003.

We will be working at all three refuges but most of our time will be at Alamosa.

If you read a couple of posts back you will see that our Alamosa RV site is probably not going to be finished any time soon. 

We have moved over to the Monte Vista NWR.

We’re parked behind an historical house that is owned by the Refuge, but not used.

The driveway is lined on both sides with enormous cottonwood trees.

This is the view out our window.

We’re glad to have full hookups!

Around the Refuge

Guess who?

Here’s another clue:

There is a nice 3 1/2 mile auto tour here at Alamosa.  We saw lots of birds on the drive around.

There are a lot of Cinnamon Teal.

Horned Lark

Kestral

 Mallard

Did you guess what this critter is?  There are several of them in the trees behind our RV.

Porcupine

This one was pretty gray!



New Bikes

We have been thinking of buying new bikes for quite a while.  The ones we have are over 20 years old and in pretty bad shape.  Out of 15 gears I could only use about 6!

We happened to go into a wonderful little mountain sports shop in Alamosa.  While trying on hiking boots and looking around we noticed that they had a very large selection of bikes.

The sales woman was very knowledgeable and found a bike that was my size (yall know I’m on the short side, right?) and spent quite a while getting everything adjusted just right for me.  I decided that I would not make a decision right then but to think about it a while. 

My, very nice, sales lady encouraged me to ‘take it for a spin in the parking lot.’  Yep, that’s all it took.  I wanted some extra things put on it like a different seat, and a wireless computer that keeps track of mileage, distance, etc.  We picked it up the next day. So, I’m the proud owner of a 2012 Specialized Myka HT Disc.

The next day, we went back to pick up my bike and, you guessed it, Mark found one that he liked.  He got the 2012 Specialized Hardrock Disc 29.  He also wanted some extra items so we waited around for his bike.

We were able to donate our old bikes to the boy scouts for a garage sale they will be having next month.

We’ve already found a few biking trails on the map and hope to try them out soon.  Stay tuned!

"Not Quite Finished"

We have arrived at Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge.

This is the brand new RV pad that we were supposed to use.  It's "Not Quite Finished." It's just a slab.  There is no electric, water, or sewer.

This is the brand new laundry room I was going to use.  As you can see it's "Not Quite Finished."

This is a sampling of the junk I've been picking up around the RV site.  The cleanup is "Not Quite Finished."

Hummm... Do you see a pattern here?

Our first day we were told that finishing the RV pad would be the first priority.  The second day we were told that it might take a while.  The third day we were told they have another place for us and would like for us to move.

The staff here has been extremely nice.  There does seem to be a bit of disorganization.  Until everything gets worked out we’re going to go with the flow.

Stay tuned!