It was going to be a windy day that while mostly sunny, would only reach 68° according to the weather guessers.
Sunrise:
So instead of hanging out for one more day, I drove home, arriving at around 1:00 p.m. to an enthusiastic hug from Martha.
According to the trip spreadsheet, I camped for 71 days this time at a cost of $31.90 a day.
The largest cost, not surprisingly, was fuel for the RV at 46%, next was groceries at 25%, 17% for RV related tasks/propane/Starlink, 10% for camping fees and final 2% was gas for Yagi and meals bought while visiting friends.
About 3000 miles covered by the RV. Average MPG: 8 .
I chose to do very little riding over Saturday and Sunday....sallying forth just to pose Yagi for these shots mostly.
Blanca Peak (amongst others)
Challenger Point
Bino shot at 1x
Crestone Peak
Bino shot at 1x
Sunday's sunrise:
Saturday was nice and warm with a high of 81°F, sound would turn out cooler with a forecasted high in the low 70s. It was sunny though which warmed things up a bit.
After lunch, I rode Yagi to the nearest point where one can walk out onto the ever expanding lake bed. I wanted to see if I could get a reflection shot of the mountains.
I made it all the way to the waterline, quite soft and muddy.
Another warm day here in the vicinity of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The temperatures would reach 79° at their height in the late afternoon.
I rode out on Yagi, my TW200, at around 3:00 p.m. towards the Pinion Campground inside the National Park. The campground is closed for the season, so I parked near the amphitheater and walked into the trailhead for the Dunes Overlook trail.
This overlook gives you a good higher view of the sand dunes without actually having to climb the dunes themselves and getting sand in your shoes. It's about a mile to the top of the small hill that forms the overlook. The trail is littered with rocks and stones so you have to watch yourself, the switchbacks are many but not too steep.
I'll admit I had to stop a couple of times or so to catch my breath on the uphill parts.
Still, I made it and here's what one can see from up there:
Then there was time for some close-up shots using the binoculars adapter for my camera phone.i really liked the wind-created patterns in the sand.
Well most of the shots I was able to frame correctly in order to remove the curvature of the binocular lens eyepiece, some of them I could not get right and so you get to see the curvature of the eyepiece.
Can you see the people down there?
I made it back to Yagi with no issues and posed her near the base of the dunes:
Finally a video of the dunes atop Dunes Overlook Point
I wasn't very tired but I was feeling a bit sore from all the hiking, especially in my left knee. I'm sure it'll be fine tomorrow. I returned to camp and processed these pictures while sitting in the warm sunshine of the afternoon.
This being the weekend, the place is filling up with other camper rigs and tent campers.
I woke before dawn and so was in place to capture early morning lighting of the Sangre de Cristo mountains visible from my campsite.
For reference:
Challenger Point 2x Zoom with binos
Challenger Point
Crestone Peak
The dunes at ten miles....using binos
of course
3x zoom of above
Video taken using phone and bino adapters:
Around 5PM I wrote out to the National Park with Yagi My TW200. It's about 20 mi or so to the visitor center. I mainly stayed in the area just before the fee gate for the following shots of the dunes as the shadows settled into them with the sun going down.
A short video to show how wide an area the dunes cover on this side:
