First Day of Spring at the Great Sand Dunes NP

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.