Medano Creek Hike

Wednesday morning, we had breakfast at the lodge again and then headed back into Great Sand Dunes National Park.  We saw some pronghorn grazing on the drive in.

We parked just outside the campground at the end of the paved road.  There was a nice view of the dunes from the parking area.

The very top of the highest mountains were shrouded in clouds.

Hiking through the campground, we got on Sand Ramp Trail and followed roughly parallel to Medano Pass 4WD Road.  There were some prickly pears along the trail.

We also spotted a mule deer.

We turned on Dunes Overlook Trail and headed up towards the overlook.

The clouds had started to clear over the mountains but not completely.

From the overlook, there was a great view of the dunes and Medano Creek far below.

After a break here, we headed back down to Sand Ramp Trail.

The trail had panoramic views of the dunes and mountains.

We continued hiking for several miles.

At the spur to Indian Grove Campsite, we got on Medano Pass Road to make a loop.

In a short ways, the trail began to follow Medano Creek closely.

The creek wasn't really flowing too much yet this early in the year and there were still patches of snow on the creek.

The Castle Creek Picnic Area had real nice views of the creek as it lightly flowed beneath the dunes.

Back on the road, we continued to Sand Pit and went out for another nice view.

Sand Pit Trail was a short connector from here to Point of No Return.

To avoid the occasional truck on the road, we took Sand Pit Trail.

There were more nice views from this trail.

At Point of No Return, we followed the road back to the parking area.

From here, we headed into Fort Garland and had dinner at Rendezvous BBQ.  Staff were really friendly and the barbecue was great.  Then we headed back to the lodge and enjoyed one more sunset over the Great Sand Dunes before going to bed.

 

Duneboarding

Tuesday, we had breakfast at the lodge and then rented a sandsled and a duneboard from them.  Then we headed into Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve.  We first stopped at the visitor center, but it was still closed.  We did see a number of mule deer in the parking lot.

We continued to the dunes parking area and started hiking across the dunes.

It's a really beautiful and surreal area with snow-capped mountains behind the giant dunes.

We continued to High Dune as this was the best spot for duneboarding.

We dropped out stuff at the base and took turns climbing up the dunes and sledding or boarding down.

The climb up the steep dunes was challenging, but was fun sliding back down.

It was quite windy and although we were wearing goggles, after a few runs, we started heading back.  There were a few shorter runs on the way back.

We headed back to the lodge and returned our board and sled and had lunch.  Then we headed to Zapata Falls Campground.  The road up was very rough, but we didn't have much trouble by going slow.   There was construction near the top so we just parked and hiked the rest of the way.  There were nice views of the dunes and mountains from the parking area, but the blowing sand was reducing visibility.

We got on Zapata Falls Trail and followed it under a half-mile to South Zapata Creek.

The creek was frozen so we wore micro-spikes to enter the narrow canyon.

Zapata Falls was completely frozen.

The deep blue ice was really gorgeous.

We spent a while in the narrow chasm enjoying this spectacular waterfall.

A few more people showed up so we started hiking back.  The sandstorm had picked up and we couldn't see much of anything now.

We continued back to the car and made the very slow drive back down.

We ate dinner at the lodge and then went for another evening hike in the park.  We parked again at the Montville Nature Trailhead and followed Mosca Pass Trail.

The trail soon entered Sangre de Cristo Wilderness and there were nice views from the trail.

We hiked about a mile into the wilderness but didn't go too far.

We got some pictures in here and then headed back.

Back at the lodge, we enjoyed a nice sunset view from the back porch as the sandstorm had subsided.

Then we went to bed.

Upper Rio Grande Waterfalls

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and started driving east on US-160.  In about 15 miles, we pulled over at Treasure Falls Observation Site.  Treasure Falls was visible from the parking area.

The views from here were pretty nice.

There is a main trail and a primitive trail up to the falls.  To make a loop, we donned micro-spikes and headed up the primitive trail.  It was very steep and icy and would have been completely impossible without the spikes.  The trail ended at the Blowout Lookout and to a footbridge below the falls.

The waterfall was really impressive with all the snow.

The trail continues up to the Misty Deck right at the base of the main drop.

All the snow and ice at the base was really beautiful.

Taking the main trail down, we stopped for a quick break at Valley View Overlook.

The main trail was much easier and soon we made it back to the car.

From here, we continued east on US-160 and crossed the continental divide at Wolf Creek Pass and entered Rio Grande National Forest.  There was a pull off we stopped at on the other side of the divide with a nice view.

In South Fork, we got on CO-149 and headed west into the forest.  Just past Creede, we stopped at a pull-off with a view of a restored bentonite clay mine.

A little further down the road, we pulled off on the side to see a herd of bighorn sheep.

There were quite a few of them and they were right on the side of the road.

There were a few babies and the mother was keeping an eye on us.

After some pictures, we continued on.  We stopped again at the Highway 149 Interpretive Site for a nice view of the Upper Rio Grande Valley.

We made one last stop along 149 at an overlook past Silver Thread Campground looking towards Weminuche Wilderness.  We were up above 10,000 feet now and it was still looking like winter.

When we got to FR-510, it was gated and closed to vehicles, so we drove a little further to a parking area on FR-513 and parked here.  Then we hiked down FR-510 through a snowy wonderland.

It was about a half-mile to North Clear Creek Falls Observation site and an overlook for North Clear Creek Falls.

This massive waterfall tumbles 100 feet down through towering volcanic cliffs.

We walked along the overlook to view from difference angles.

The ice at the top of the waterfall was really beautiful.

After some pictures, we headed back to the car.  Heading back, we stopped at Silver Thread Campground.  It was snowed in, so we parked outside the gate and hiked to the back of the campground for the trailhead to South Clear Creek Falls Trail (#899).  The trail descended via switchbacks towards South Clear Creek.

Soon we made it to South Clear Creek Falls and hiked past the overlook to the snowy waterfall.

There was a huge mass of ice surrounding the middle of the falls.

It was cool to walk around and view the ice from different angles.

The icicles near the base of the waterfall were really fantastic.

Even the view from the overlook was nice.

After some pictures we headed back to the car.  Before leaving the area, we drove a short ways down County Road 10 and parked across from Brown Lakes State Wildlife Area.

We could see Rex Falls from here but it was very snowy and any trail was completely buried.  We followed some tracks, probably animal, to the tributary and followed it upstream to Rex Falls.

Another very snowy waterfall at high elevation.

The water flowed under another sheet of ice and was very scenic.

After some photos, we headed back to the car.

From here, we started heading out.  We stopped along CR-10 for another nice view of the Brown Lakes area.

Turning on CO-149 towards Creede, we stopped at another overlook.

Closer to Creede, we stopped again to another (or maybe the same) herd of bighorn sheep.  One had a magpie on her back.

In South Fork, we took US-160 east and stopped at Three Barrels Brewing in Del Norte for dinner.  After dinner we continued to Great Sand Dunes and checked into the lodge.  There was still an hour or so of daylight, so we headed into Great Sand Dunes National Park for a short hike.  Parking at Mosca Pass Trailhead, we started out on the combined Mosca Pass/Montville Nature Trail.  At the split, we continued up Mosca Pass Trail a short ways and passed some nice cliffs.

With limited daylight, we didn't go too far up the trail.  There were some prickly pears along the trail here.

We also spotted some hedgehog cactus.

Heading back down, we returned to Montville Nature Trail as the sun was fading behind the dunes.

There were some really beautiful views of the dunes and mountains from here.

We stopped a few times heading back down to watch as the sun set behind the dunes.

We finished our hike back up at the car right around sunset.

Leaving the park, we made one more stop for a beautiful view of dusk over the dunes.

Then we headed back to the room and retired for the evening.