Great Sand Dunes is the newest national park in America. It is located in southern Colorado, only about an hours drive from the New Mexico border. It consists of 19,000 acres of sand dunes, including the highest in North America at 750 feet. My buddy Bryce and I did a little backpacking there as I was looking for an activity that two men could do together that didn't involve drinking beer. It was around 60 degrees during the day, but at night it dipped into the twenties. Our water bottles froze and so did a banana that I was looking forward to eating for breakfast. I feel confident in estimating that my sleeping bag is rated somewhere in the 40 degree range as evinced by my lack of sleep. That reminds me of the classic debate of backpacking: do I get out of my mummy bag in the freezing cold to take a piss, or do I hold it even though the discomfort is keeping me awake? I chose to hold fast, quite certainly the wrong choice. At night the park's claim to fame is its view of the milky way. It was quite impressive, though I may have been more intrigued with the bug in the second photo.
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