Great Sand Dunes National Park

The sand Dunes are awesome! We packed WAY TOO MUCH water with us. I took 4.5 Liters and Aleksey took 5.5L, of which we drank about 1.5L. We took a very strenuous hike up to the 650 foot high “High Dune”about 1.25 miles from the parking lot. It might not sound like a lot, but it sure felt like it.
The best part about hiking UP a sand dune is playing on the way DOWN. We partook in an activity i like to call “Hulk’ing.” Hulking consists of running and jumping very quickly down a sand dune, just like the big green Hulk runs and jumps. Aleksey ran down one of the hills barefoot and realized too late that the sand quickly becomes hard and rough toward the bottom. By this time he was already traveling WAY TOO FAST to slow down, let alone stop. While waiting, watching and laughing uncontrollably, i eperienced the doppler effect first hand (the increase in volume of an object traveling closer to another object – i.e Aleksey to me) thanks to Aleksey’s screaming all the way down the hill. He was rewarded for his courageous act with pink feet rubbed raw by the sand and stone. Pictures below:
We finished at the park around 1 p.m. We both cleaned up, took showers, ate a great salad and started heading over to Colorado Springs.

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