Unveiling Colorado's Hidden Majesty: A National Park Adventure For the Entire Family

If you’ve never been to the relatively unknown Great Sands National Park, or you plan to travel here, join us as dive into the many of the GREAT things to do and see here. There's so much to do; first and foremost is to head off to the dunes for some family bonding through sandboarding. Not to be overlooked are the several great hikes that can be taken here, including Zapata Falls and the alpine trail Mosca Pass. For the serious adventurer we take you with us as we head out on the Medano Primative Road.

As a bonus we share how we save money on our gas purchases and give you a taste of what fall looks like here!

The park’s namesake centerpiece, the dunes, represents about 11 percent of an enormous sand deposit that covers more than 330 square miles in the San Luis Valley! The dune sand extends to depths of 300 feet below the valley floor and just above Lake Alamosa deposits, indicating that there have been dunes here since the time of Lake Alamosa, or dating back as far as 400,000 years!

This is a rough 22 mile road connecting Great Sand Dunes with the Wet Mountain Valley and Colorado State Highway 69. Passable only in the warmer months and only with high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles, it gives access to Medano Pass (elevation 10,040’) and Great Sand Dunes National Preserve. This road crosses areas of deep sand, traverses Medano Creek nine times, and passes through excellent habitat for bighorn sheep. Average driving time for the entire primitive road is about 2.5 - 3 hours.

Jeep Tours and Jeep Rentals
For visitors that do not have a 4WD vehicle but would like to experience the Medano Road, there are companies that rent Jeeps and/or provide Jeep tours.- Mountain Master Off-Road Tours provides Jeep tours. 719-588-9022- Great Sand Dunes Lodge provides Jeep rentals. 719-378-2900

Useful links:

Great Sand Dunes NPS site
https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NPS site
https://www.nps.gov/blca/index.htm

Current Medano Road Conditions:
https://www.nps.gov/grsa/planyourvisi...

Cactus
https://www.notesfromtheroad.com/dese...

pineapple cactus
https://tucson.com/news/local/pineapp...

https://www.alamosa.org/great-sand-du...

John Fremount
https://home.nps.gov/grsa/learn/histo...

Zebulon Pike
https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/arti...

Cold Hardy Cactus
https://www.citycacti.com/cold-hardy-...

Our Website
kenandpattistravels.com

Gas Saving steps
1.) know the distance you’ll travel, including days ahead
2.) know your typical MPG, using this determine when you’ll need to fill up
3.) Using the Openroads app, look for the prices of stations that you’ll pass by on your trip and within your window of fuel, select an appropriate station
4.) Consider having a “Jerry” can with a few extra gallons of gas - in the event that the station you’ve chosen can’t sell you gas
5.) find that station on google maps and confirm that you’ll be able to pull in (most truck stops won’t be an issue.

Music Credits
Lucid Dreaming - Velle
Dancing On The Tables - Elijah
Red Lipstick - Water Mirrors
MM Stomp - American Legion
Under the Dark Sky - Johan Glossier
Heart Hold On - Max Anson
Things That Matter - Frank Jonsson

0:00 Intro
1:30 How to save on Diesel Gas purchases with Open Roads
3:24 Great Sand Dunes Oasis
3:44 Zapata Falls
5:45 Visitors Center
6:31 Hiking to High Dune
9:52 Medano Creek
12:16 Mosca Pass Trail
15:12 Dune Sandboarding!
21:40 Dunes Overlook Trail
22:33 Medano Pass Primitive Road
25:04 Music Credits and Thank You

We are full-time RVers and within these videos we share our family friendly adventures with you. Our RVing across the US takes us to national and state parks, as well as unusual points of interest and historically important places. We welcome you to join us we pass along the fun, the funny, some interesting facts, and the occasional hardships of what it is like to leave the bricks and sticks behind and become a family of full-time RVers. If you want to know more about us, you can find our website at https://kenandpattistravels.com