San Luis Valley
From Durango we headed into the San Luis Valley over Wolf Creek Pass.
The San Luis Valley is just north of the border with New Mexico and is a big agricultural area. The Rio Grand River originates up near the top of Wolf Creek Pass and runs down into the southern end of the San Luis Valley providing much irrigation water. We spent a few nights in Del Norte just on the western edge of the valley along-side the Rio Grande. In the picture below, the river is just beyond the trees.
We went for a bike ride in the foothills just outside Del Norte.
From Del Norte we went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The highest dunes are over 700 feet above the valley floor. No, we did not climb to the top.
Just getting from the parking lot to where the dunes really begin is about 1/3 mile walking in sand (it is actually a dry creek bed). Ann and I both do NOT like walking in deep sand so we just got to the first dunes and stopped. We had hoped to camp at the park but it was full. Instead we went to a Colorado State Wildlife area called San Luis Lakes. We could see the dunes in the distance. The whole valley floor used to be a lake. Now there are just a few areas where there is surface water.
Caught a nice sunset there.
We had been seeing virga all day. Here you can see the rain just hanging from the cloud as it evaporates before reaching the ground.
From San Luis Lakes we went to a natural hot springs in the area. It is a clothing optional place so they don't want you taking pictures of the people but I got this shot looking out from one of the pools out over the San Luis Valley from about 9,000 feet. The valley floor is around 7,000 feet. You can see some of the irrigated fields.
The San Luis Valley is just north of the border with New Mexico and is a big agricultural area. The Rio Grand River originates up near the top of Wolf Creek Pass and runs down into the southern end of the San Luis Valley providing much irrigation water. We spent a few nights in Del Norte just on the western edge of the valley along-side the Rio Grande. In the picture below, the river is just beyond the trees.
We went for a bike ride in the foothills just outside Del Norte.
From Del Norte we went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The highest dunes are over 700 feet above the valley floor. No, we did not climb to the top.
Just getting from the parking lot to where the dunes really begin is about 1/3 mile walking in sand (it is actually a dry creek bed). Ann and I both do NOT like walking in deep sand so we just got to the first dunes and stopped. We had hoped to camp at the park but it was full. Instead we went to a Colorado State Wildlife area called San Luis Lakes. We could see the dunes in the distance. The whole valley floor used to be a lake. Now there are just a few areas where there is surface water.
Caught a nice sunset there.
We had been seeing virga all day. Here you can see the rain just hanging from the cloud as it evaporates before reaching the ground.
From San Luis Lakes we went to a natural hot springs in the area. It is a clothing optional place so they don't want you taking pictures of the people but I got this shot looking out from one of the pools out over the San Luis Valley from about 9,000 feet. The valley floor is around 7,000 feet. You can see some of the irrigated fields.
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