Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

On our road trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, James and I decided to make a detour to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. We were excited to visit but did not realize how unprepared we were until it was way too late.

I'm going to tell you how hilariously it went, but first, take a look at how breathtaking the park is!

The dunes don't look quite as high up or as big as they are, and if you haven't been there, it can be hard to know. So here is another picture for perspective:

If you look toward the top of the image on the left, you can see incredibly tiny dots that are people. This is probably only about a third of the way up that we went. In other words, it was a long way to the top.

So here's what happened:

We decided, just like everyone else at the Great Sand Dunes National Park that it would be so fun to hike up the sand to the very top to see the beautiful view of all the dunes and the surrounding mountains. But first, we heard that you can sled down sand, or go "sandboarding." Being from Minnesota, we figured it would be similar to snow sledding. So, off to Walmart, we went looking for something plastic to use as a sled.

We came out with two garbage can lids, aluminum baking pans, big black garbage bags, and pam cooking spray: thinking we could make it slippery and oily, right?

Here's how that went:

In other words, just rent the wooden oiled boards from the nearby shops. DIY sleds are not the way to go, ha!

Even so, we had lots of good laughs just rolling and running down the hills of the dunes.

After we were done playing around in the sand, we put away our failed sledding things and decided to make the trek up the dunes. So many rookie mistakes here. I advise you to read on, especially if you're planning a trip so you don't make these same mistakes.

First off, we visited the park in August. It was a hot summer day, full sun and mid-afternoon. The temperature of the sand by the time we were well over halfway up the dunes was 150 degrees Fahrenheit. That heat mixed with the wind beating you with tiny grains of sand that felt like stinging needles to the skin was not pleasant. Take a look for yourself at what the wind did to us:

Secondly, we had open-toe sandals on. What in the world were we thinking? I don't know. Clearly, we are from Minnesota where we don't encounter hot sand very often. For every step forward we took, we sunk two steps backward into the scalding sand.

Third, we did not bring enough water. It was pushing ninety-six degrees and was on hot sand. Not good. We thought we could make it but there was a thinning line between us and heat exhaustion. We had hiked up the dunes for an hour and a half at this point, so turning around wouldn't have done much good either with our lack of water. At least at the top, there was a breeze and a break. Thankfully, we did have some water, but the walk back to the car might have been the most brutal part.

Lastly, and this won't apply to everyone, but the elevation change was steep, and guess who didn't even bring her inhaler? Yup, that was me.

But, we made it. And was that ever the most accomplished we have ever felt? Our fellow hikers around us, also rookies from various places, were celebrating just as much, if not more, as we were. There is no other type of bonding than experiencing near heat exhaustion with strangers who realize they also made big mistakes.

Here is a video of the views from the top of the dunes:

And some more pictures because it was just so incredible:

So, the moral of the story: this national park is beautiful and has an incredible amount of fun, but don't be rookies like us! Bring lots of water, wear closed-toe shoes, definitely hike in the morning or evening, and just pay the money to rent the sandboards.