Wild Rivers and Great Sand Dunes

6 April, Monday - The day dawned sunny...and cold. We drove down through Questa then north and west to the BLM's Wild Rivers park. After paying our fee (half of $3, love that "golden geezer" access pass!) we stopped at a couple of pullouts to look into the Rio Grande gorge. Then we parked in the La Junta trailhead and hiked down the trail and stairs, losing 800 ft in the process, to the junction of the Red and Rio Grande. From there we continued north along the River Trail to the Little Arsenic Springs CG (sheltered picnic tables, tent pads and outhouse on a bench above the river) and up the trail to Little Arsenic TH. The walk back to the car along the Redondo (?) Trail was anticlimactic after the scenery in the gorge. But the mountain sheep we surprised just outside the parking lot was anything but boring. Wasting no time (it was already after 1300) we hurried north to Great Sand Dunes National Park.










This time the sky was clear and blue. The dunes stood out sharply against the snowcapped Sangre de Cristo range as we walked out on the dune field and up one of the nearby dunes. The wind was light and the temperature was moderate - no snow and howling winds this time. After taking photos of dune crests, ripple marks and "sand angels", we drove through the juniper-shaded (but still somewhat snowy) campground and on to Alamosa for a Starbucks break - thanks for the card, Irina and Andrei! We took the alternate route back, crossing the Rio Grande way above the gorge and taking a detour to see the stupa at "Lorien" near El Rito. It was nearly 1930 by the time we got back to the condo at Red River but the evening light on the canyon cliffs made it worthwhile.