Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it’s hard to question all that
makes Colorado’s landscape so magnificent. The high plains of the east.
The adventurous canyons of the west. And the majestic Rocky Mountains
right in between.
Colorado has a knack for blending outdoor adventure
with urban sophistication. Where else can you hike up a 14,000-foot
mountain in the morning, and then catch a Broadway-style play later that
evening?
Trip Idea in Colorado:
Great Sand Dunes
Go sandboarding down giant sand dunes
The Rocky Mountain State is famous for its alpine
peaks, tumbling rivers, forested hillsides and snowy winter vistas. What
you don’t expect to find here, a thousand miles from the ocean, are
sand dunes. But in the south-central part of the state, there they are,
up to 750 feet high, the tallest in North America. The shifting light
paints them in different hues: gold, pink, tan, even blue.
Over 30 square miles of dunes have been shaped by the prevailing
westerly winds streaming through the San Luis Valley. The
13,000-foot-high Sangre de Cristo Mountains act like a giant baseball
catcher’s glove, collecting sand deposited by creeks flowing out of the
San Juan Mountains over the millennia. The recently established Great
Sand Dunes National Preserve includes some of the highest peaks in the
Rockies, alpine lakes, forests, wetlands and tundra, in addition to the
dazzling dunes.
In other desert parks in the West you have to worry about leaving
tracks, but not here: the wind will erase them within a day, sometimes
within hours. There aren’t any trails on the dunes themselves, so you’re
free to play Lawrence of Arabia for an afternoon or longer. It’s not
always that easy hiking—but the views from the tops of the highest dunes
are worth it. (Stick to the ridges for easier going.) Foot and horse
trails in the mountainous preserve climb to Medano Lake at 11,500 feet,
as well as 11,380-foot Music Pass, with great views of Music Mountain
(13,355 feet) and Tijeras Peak (13,604 feet). Keep hiking northwest from
the pass to reach Upper and Lower Sand Creek Lakes in a magnificent
alpine setting.
Of course, this is Colorado, so it was only a matter of time before
someone tried to ski the dunes. Sandboarding, as this
Sahara-meets-Steamboat pastime is called, is usually done on old
snowboards and ‘saucers’ on these lengthy slopes. It’s an odd sight to
see cars pull into the parking lot here with skis attached to the roof.