October 19, 2017

And they are GREAT! We camped in a defunct state park that is now run as a wildlife refuge. It is kind of like a ghost campground- 51 sites, fire rings picnic shelters, pit toilets but NO management! And the electric was still on and it was FREE! We had views of the mountain range 50 miles to the west and more 10 miles to the east with the Sand Dunes at their feet.
The sand dunes were formed over the last 450,000 years (not too old in the scheme of this planet) by prevailing winds blowing sand from the west across the valley to the base of the mountain range, and other winds eroding sand off the tops of those mountains. The tallest are about 700ft high, the spread is about 10 by 20 miles! You can hike, sand sled and sandboard them! It is tough walking, just like dunes at the beach! And the elevation was over 7000ft.

We headed back into the mountains- passing farm land and then into forested land- we realize every time we get back into the trees how much we really miss them! Here it is pine and Colorado Blue Spruce-naturally growing ( I paid big bucks for one at my Hope house!) – whole mountain sides of them! We’re camping on Forest Service land tonight, alongside the Pass Creek, on a dirt road, only a couple others within 2-3 miles- free again! FS land for the next night- full of hunters – they did lots of driving around, but not much shooting…Did you know, that only 11 states ban hunting on Sunday? yup!