Great Sand Dunes National Park - Colorado
January 22 - 24, 2010
This marks the first winter camping trip I've done and I was excited to go on it, but a bit concerned I wouldn't stay warm enough. Despite the cold temperatures (~6F as a low) it was a trip well-worth it.
My housemate and I met Darren Kilgore down there Friday night and the dunes had a lovely white blanket on. We were excited for sunrise, but when the early morning came, there was a lot of cloud cover making the morning light a bit dull. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed the time. As the day went on we played around on the Medano Creek trail (as long as it was open), napped, and climbed the dunes. Sunset came and what a light display! The mixture of sand, snow, clouds, and sun really made for some excellent light conditions - probably one of the best sunsets I've captured to date. Finally, Sunday morning came and we took a few as the light permitted and then hiked up to Zapata Falls. The falls and creek were covered in thick ice and I really took a liking to the falls. On the way back down to the cars, we saw the Sangre de Cristo mountains had some sweet light and clouds so we hussled back in order to make the most of what we saw. All-in-all, it was a very beneficial trip!
