Wanderlust: Ridgway & Great Sand Dunes National Park

So after journeying through Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, we made our way back to Colorado, taking a more southerly route back to the Springs. Our Thursday night destination was the home of the parents of a church friend. This house is nestled deep in the mountains of western Colorado; the nearest town is Ridgway, population 953.

This is the view from their living room.

This is the view from their deck.

Van for proof.

They had four hummingbird feeders on the deck, which were always a flurry of activity.

Anyway, during our one night at this house, we ate delicious food, spent time getting to know Marilyn & Doug, played ping pong and Zebra, watched a basketball game, and had our weekly worship night.

The next morning, we hit the road to Mesa Verde National Park before heading on to Alamosa. I have to take a quick sidebar here to talk about road trip music. Right before the start of this trip, I downloaded the Steel Wheels' latest album, called Wild As We Came Here. I recommend it for anytime, but I wholeheartedly endorse it as a wanderlust album. It is utterly perfect for listening while staring out the window at the staggering, unparalleled glory of the Rockies.

Here, try this opening track while you gaze at these pretty-but-nowhere-near-as-incredible-as-being-there car photos.

We pulled off briefly at Lizard Head Pass, a mountain pass at over 10,000 feet of elevation in the San Juan Mountains.

We made a brief foray into Mesa Verde, but didn't have time for anything more than a hike and a picnic. All the ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings (for which Mesa Verde is known) are located in the southern part of the park and were therefore incompatible with our time constraints.

I didn't take any pictures on our hike to Point Lookout, but it was very green. (As you might have gathered from the park name.) My housemates were relatively unimpressed after the staggering views of Canyonlands, but I actually loved it.

Anyway, after that we drove a few more hours to Alamosa, Colorado. We had dinner at an Italian place called Bistro Rialto before spending the night at the Mennonite Voluntary Service house.

Quick round of Apples to Apples Bible Edition before bed.

In the morning, we struck out for the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park, our last stop on the trip.

Oh look, another Steel Wheels song from their newest album. 

My frame of reference for sand dunes consists of my childhood experiences taking family vacations in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where we would sometimes frequent the dunes at Jockey's Ridge.

While my time at the Colorado sand dunes certainly called up memories of days spent at Jockey's Ridge, this is a whole different world. This is thirty square miles of the tallest sand dunes in North America, nestled in the San Luis Valley and surrounded by 13,000-ft mountains.

There were several aspects of our day at the dunes that felt exceedingly perfect, timing-wise. For one thing, our visit fell during the few weeks out of the year when Medano Creek runs along the base of the dunes. The rest of the year, it's dry.

We crossed the creek and began our trek up High Dune.

I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this hike.

I hiked the whole thing barefoot, which I absolutely loved. It was a pretty intense workout, but at the same time, it kinda felt like we were just frolicking on the beach.

Except it wasn't like any beach I knew, because we had views like this the entire time.

The weather could not have been more perfect. The sun was out, but with enough cloud cover to keep us cool.

I've heard it can get extremely windy in the dunes, too, with sand blowing so hard it's painful. All we had was a light, pleasant breeze.

We climbed this final ridge to get to the top of High Dune -- 700 feet tall.

And soaked in the panoramic views at the top.

The day continued to be perfect in every possible way and I continued to overflow with gratitude.

Gratitude at this place, this world, these people.

Eventually we headed back the way we'd came, and predictably, the way down was a very different experience than the way up. (If we see each other in person, feel free to ask to see the video of Kate, Nora, and Daniel racing down a super steep section.)

At one point Nora and Kate decided to swim down, a la sand-breaststroke.

When we reached Medano Creek, the crowds had arrived in full Saturday morning enthusiasm.

Beach life, Colorado style.

Great Sand Dunes, as the fourth and final National Park on our end-of-year trip, turned out to be my favorite of the lot. I'm sure this was due in part to the perfect conditions that day, but another big part was the majestic landscape, the unprecedented intersection of two of my favorite places: beaches and mountains. If you ever get the chance to visit, you really must.

I'll leave you with one more song.

Open roads, open hands.

May your roads and your hands be open this summer.