GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK....SUNDAY MORNING

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright with five ravenous women salivating over a camp stove where my Mom’s old cast iron skillet fried bacon, eggs and hash browns for breakfast.  What a nice way to start the day!

And with the things we were frying up the idea of toast was floated and everyone agreed it would be a good addition.  Remember that we are dry camping, no electric or water at our sites.  But Saffire does have a generator and produces her own electricity.  Lo and behold what should appear….two electric toasters!!!  Diane and Linda both bring toasters with them when they are camping, so we had lovely buttered toast to add to our feast!

Fortified for the day, we headed out on a hike to the mountain ridge which overlooks the campground and the sand dunes.  It was a beautiful hike filled with wildflowers and two blooming cacti.  All the cactus plants look as if they are ready to burst into bloom, a small rain would make the hike a riot of color.  I am always delighted by the vibrant cactus bloom, it comes from rough, rocky terrain from a plant which is so prickly and plain.  

Later in the day, Luanne and Linda climbed to a waterfall which I would have loved to have seen but I recognized my limitations and took a pass on it.  It was .5 mile straight up slick rock; then clinging to a wall to get around a corner; then fording a river which was running swiftly, knee deep, and filled will round slick rocks; then around a corner to stand in the river for a picture of the falls.  I’m not sure I would have survived to be sitting here telling stories this morning!

Diane, Jeanne and I decided to go down to the river at the Dunes to play.  We took the dogs and drove down.  It had been windy at the campground, but OMG, when we got to the river it was a real wind storm!  Jeanne and I left our glasses in the car, not wanting them to be sand blasted.  We got out into the middle of the river and the sand was blowing so hard it STUNG through my long pants!  The people walking on the dunes looked like they were floating on air as the sand swirled around their legs!  It didn’t take long for us to give it up and head back to our camp.  

The winds here are what have created the massive dunes.  There are two mountain ranges on either side, erosion has created the sand and the winds drive down from one side and are met by winds from the other range which pile up the huge dunes.  I think a new dune may have grown yesterday!

After our busy day and the gusting winds we were all pretty wiped.  We had planned to barbecue but put that idea aside for another evening.  We all brought “stuff” and met in Saffire for dinner.  Although Saffire II is much smaller than Saffire I she can handle five people for dinner, maybe not in style, but in more comfort than the out of doors offered last night.  

As I type I’m watching the sun come up over the dunes, the play of clouds and light make it an ever changing sight.  I went to bed last night at 8:30 so have been awake since 3:00.  I thought rather than tossing and turning I’d get up, write and have this spectacular view to inspire me.  

We leave the Dunes today and head over the mountain pass to Durango.  Linda has left the group and headed back to Ohio as she has to work Tuesday, so we’ll be four arriving in Durango but our numbers will soon grow again.  BJ will arrive from California today, she has been on the road for three days to join us.  Christine flew from St. Louis to Denver yesterday, got a car and will meet us in Durango.  I have her camping gear in Saffire and she’ll be with us through Moab.

I have a friend, Dee, who lives in Durango and another friend Susie who is flying in to Durango today to stay for the four days we are there.  So that brings our numbers to eight.  And I have another friend and her husband who will be in Durango at the same time so we should have a really great campfire one night!!

Monday morning we are riding the narrow gauge railroad from Durango to Silverton and Wednesday we are rafting the Animas River.

I have to find time in between for fishing and biking, maybe we should have planned to be in Durango longer!