Paint the town red sandbox
- #Paint the town red sandbox driver
- #Paint the town red sandbox free
- #Paint the town red sandbox windows
“The dunes are very amorphous forms,” Oden told us.
#Paint the town red sandbox windows
In a room with bay windows looking out to the dunes, he handed out watercolor paper, junior ranger pencils and tempera paints. I stopped by the visitor center for an art class with a young ranger and artist named Graham Oden. Jumbo clouds hovered low, grazing mountain peaks as though dangling from the ceiling in a school play. From a distance, the dunes looked like ant hills next to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It was late afternoon when I first drove toward the park the day before my hike. “Here,” he said, “prints from human activity never last very long.” In his 28 years at the park, Bunch has seen a few wedding proposals written in sand, and then, like the shake of an Etch A Sketch, the next wind erases it all. Rather than remind visitors to stay on the trails, he encourages them to make their own.
“This is one of the few parks where we tell people, ‘Go ahead and write your name in 15-foot letters on the sand dunes,’” said Fred Bunch, the park’s chief of resource management. But at the giant sandbox known as Great Sand Dunes, visitors are encouraged to walk, jump, sled, roll and draw as they wish. On the mid-Atlantic coast of the U.S., I - like most beach-goers - am conditioned to stay off the dunes, which are home to many plants and animals and protect the coast from storms.
#Paint the town red sandbox driver
Then there was the assignment in Qatar, where I went “dune bashing,” as the locals call it, and became so carsick that after only a few ups and downs in our SUV, the driver insisted on turning back. Years ago, I loved hang gliding off dunes in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Large sand dunes and I share some history.
I packed my car and headed south for some super fun. And the sand makes a farting sound when you land - how can you not smile?” “Great Sand Dunes is super fun,” she emailed, attaching a picture of her family jumping down a steep dune, airborne. You can reach the park visitor center at 71. Rent sandboards and sleds at Oasis (71), for $20, or Kristi Mountain Sports (71), for $18. The closest towns with lodging and restaurants are Crestone, Alamosa, Monte Vista and Del Norte. Just outside the park, camp at Oasis, Zapata Falls or San Luis State Park and Wildlife Area.
#Paint the town red sandbox free
Free backcountry permits are available for camping in the dunefield. Pinon Flats Campground is open April through October ($20 a night). Great Sand Dunes is particularly Fido-friendly: Dogs on leashes are allowed in the most popular areas of the dunes and creek. July and August are the warmest months - the creek has typically retreated or disappeared, days are in the 80s and nights can dip to the 40s. The park’s busiest times are late May and early June, when the Medano Creek flows highest and children can ride its pint-sized waves. The high desert offers much in the way of dark night skies and long, barren landscapes, but few dining options or gas stations. Great Sand Dunes National Park is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.