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Great Sand Dunes National Park - This
park, located in south-central Colorado is the site of the largest mass of sand dunes in the US. The trail my wife and
I hiked on was a conglomeration of the Sand Trap Trail, Dunes Overlook Trail, Wellington
Ditch Trail, and the Montville Nature Trail. This makes the journey an
"out and back" for a total of 4.5 miles. You start at the trailhead for the Montville Nature Trail.
From here you can either take the right or the left fork as the trail heads into the woods. Either way, you will eventually
run into the Wellington Ditch Trail. This pathfollows an elevated part of the mountain and
along the way offers views of the sand dunes against the Sangre De Cristo mountains. It is mostly wooded, but it does
pass through some open fields of grass, yucca, and prickly pear cacti. After one mile the trail runs into the campground.
From here you follow the road down the hill and take the first road on the right. Where the bathrooms are located there
will be the Sand Trap Trail off to the right. The trail will slowly
ascend a sandy path for about a half a mile until you reach the junction with the Dunes Overlook Trail.
This trail splits off to the right and heads up the mountain for a half mile until it reaches an overlook of the
San Luis Valley. While not spectacular, it is still very nice overlook and there is a small bench provided to take a
break on as well. When you are finished admiring Colorado, return the way you came but when you reach the Montville
Nature Trail take the opposite direction to make it a full 4.5 miles.
Rio Grande National Forest - The trail I hiked here
was called the Rock Creek Trail or Trail 702. To get to the trailhead
you have to head south down CO-15 a couple of miles until you see a brown sign pointing out a bunch of recreation opportunities
to the right. Here you turn right and drive down this gravel road for about 18 miles or so past a couple campgrounds
until you reach the end of the road. Once here, you can pretty much park wherever you can find a spot.
The base elevation is around 10,500 feet as the trail heads to the left and down. My wife and I did the trail over Memorial
Day weekend (2007) and that was a mistake. Most of the snow had melted already but there were large patches left.
And when I say large I mean HUGE. The trail ascends down to Rock Creek but along the way we had to pass through occasional
chest high drifts of snow. When not in the snow the trail was one big mudpit making it a very messy day. Anyhow,
once at Rock Creek you need to find a way across the stream. Unfortunately it was spring, therefore the water was high
and we ended up taking off our shoes and wading through icy water. Once on the other side, the trail will ascend the
mountain. Most of the time the path is wooded with sprucce and pine however it does pass through some open meadows.
After about a mile and a half you will come to a very large field bordered by a creek on the far side. This is as far
as we went that day because on the other side of the creek was all snow and there was no way I was going to make it in shorts
and hiking boots. So we instead decided to bushwhack up the meadow through a small patch of woods to the timberline.
Unfortunately, this was easier said than done because it was steep, muddy, and over 11,000 feet. Eventually we reached
a lonely tree near the ridge above the timberline and sat down for lunch. But the wind picked up and it got mighty cold so
my wife decided it was too much for her so she headed down. I had to oblige and be a good husband so I followed and
we bushwhacked back to the trail and followed it back to the car for a 3.5 to 4 mile hike.
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