Great Sand Dunes NP 2020

We spent a couple of nights near Alamosa, Colorado, so that we could revisit the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains present a barrier that entraps sand grains blown across the San Luis Valley by the prevailing winds, building the tallest sand dunes in the USA.

We were curious about what causes these black patches on the some of the dunes.

Plants had taken hold on a few areas on the dunes.

A dirt 4x4 road leads from the dunes into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  We saw a variety of wildflowers while driving a portion of the road.

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

Penstemon

Cactus blossoms

Some colorful fungi

Thunderheads started building as the day progressed.

We wondered if lightning had taken out this tree's top.

We liked this interplay of sunlight and shadows on the dunes.

Comet NEOWISE

We were excited when Comet NEOWISE started becoming visible in the evening sky, but we had ongoing issues with clouds every evening.  When we moved further east to an RV park near Alamosa, Colorado, we had better evening viewing conditions and were able to view the comet and capture a few images.

Multiple exposures stacked and blended

Creede, Colorado Mining History

In April of 1891, a major vein of silver ore was discovered near the present town of Creede, Colorado.  This became one of the largest silver producing areas in the USA.  We enjoyed taking the drive called Bachelor Loop which takes people through this historic mining district.

Site of the Commodore Mine

The remains of the Commodore Mine mill foundation

Some of the buildings must have been a challenge to erect.

A large ore loading facility

Timber retaining wall

These are the remains of a haulage track built across the mountain where mules hauled ore from the mines to the top of the mill.

Site of the Amethyst Mine

The Last Chance Mine above the Amethyst Mine

We saw several different wildflowers along the drive.

Blacktip Ragwort

Blue Penstemon

Butterfly on Asters

Delphinium

Thistle

This Golden Eagle flew right in front of us, but was much further away before I got the camera ready.

Clear Creek Waterfalls

Along Colorado Highway 149 between Creede and Lake City are two nice waterfalls, North and South Clear Creek Falls.  The North Falls are easy to drive close to and we had previously visited them in 2002.  The South Falls required a bit of hiking.

A fairly weathered sign marked the beginning of the trail down to South Clear Creek Falls.

Looking back up the trail from about halfway down

Our first view of South Clear Creek Falls

From the bottom of the falls

There was a nice variety of wildflowers along the trail.

 Wild Rose

Fireweed

Wild Geranium

Shrubby Cinquefoil
 

Cinquefoil and Alpine Yarrow
 

Driving to the North Falls, the area does not really look like waterfall terrain.

From the viewing area it is clear that Clear Creek drops into a gorge, forming North Clear Creek Falls.

Tansy Aster

Littleflower Penstemon

Looking towards Lake City from the Slumgullion Pass area

Blue Penstemon

Fairy Trumpets

San Juan Mountains - July 6, 2020

We took another day to drive back up into the San Juan Mountains and revisit another OHV trail we had not been on in many years.  This time we drove over the Ophir Pass and then through the town of Ophir, up to the Telluride area and then to the Last Dollar Road to meet Colorado Highway 62.

As we started up the road to Ophir Pass, we kept a lookout for a wildflower that we hoped to see, the Colorado Columbine.  As we traveled up in elevation, we soon found abundant displays of Columbine.

We also saw several other varieties of wildflowers, including Red-stem Cinquefoil.

Looking down the valley we had just come up

Looking at the road leading up towards Ophir Pass

At the summit of Ophir Pass

Looking back at the road we had come up

Looking at the road leading down the other side

Looking at the road leading down to the town of Ophir

Ophir down in the valley

King's Crown blossoms

Fireweed

After passing through the town of Ophir, we traveled on paved roads until up near the Telluride Airport where we got onto the Last Dollar Road.

We soon found ourselves in dense aspen groves.

Much of Last Dollar Road was in open country with a good variety of wildflowers.