>
> Thanks for posting Ken; haven't seen those for a while. Looks like a very
> interesting place.
>
Thank you. It is.
The visitor patterns are most unusual for a "national park" and have one of
the lowest second-night stays in the country. The position of the sand dunes
makes it a day drive from other major attractions, like the Grand Canyon.
Vacationers will arrive about 4-6 PM and will be gone by 7 AM the next
morning. They'll get pictures at the entrance to the park, stop in at the
visitor center, set up camp, hike one dune, roast hotdogs, sleep and be gone
hours before the sun hits the valley. The campground is a ghost town
throughout the day with no more than maybe 5% of the sites occupied.
However, good things come to the patient. We stayed three days and felt
rushed. There is actually so much to see and do right there and to the
photographer, there seems to be no end to the photo opportunities. I
managed to successfully get the cliche shots, but needed more time to
explore the more studied shots.
For those wishing to avoid paying camping fees or who like a little more
isolation from the "disney crowd", air down the tires of your SUV and travel
up the 4WD trail a couple miles and there are terrific back-country free
campsites available. If you get high enough up into the Sangre de Cristo
Mountains, you'll see various mountain critters along the trail. Oh, and
you have a nice rushing mountian stream you can camp next to.
North of there a few hours, is one of the best 4-wheeling areas in Colorado.
St. Elmo is a high-altitude mining town which is a nice photo opportunity
(however, they know it, so the "take a picture here" signs may be a little
disconcerting). But with your SUV, continue travelling on the rugged road to
the south to the Romney and Hancock mining camps. Altitude here is high
enough to cause breathing problems at night for most of us flatlanders, but
there is a slick little area for camping. Lots of 4wd trails and hiking
trails abound. We'll be taking our mountain bikes this time.
AG
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|