Framedlight

  We were driving north through Colorado towards Denver to catch our plane back to the UK and had stopped in Alamosa the previous night so that we could visit Great Sand Dunes the following day.  It was a great decision. These sand dunes, although they lack the whiteness of the dunes in New Mexico, make up for it in spades by the relative wildness of their situation. The park is not so ordered and neat as the White Dunes but feels a lot more natural. As we drove through the San Luis Valley towards the dunes they gradually emerged from the base of the mountains. These are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a southerly extension of the Rockies which run down along the eastern side of the Rio Grande rift all the way to to Santa Fé in New Mexico. The dunes are the highest in North America and are nowhere near the sea. The Saint Luis Valley once held a number of lakes which receded around 440,000 years ago, leaving behind large sand sheets. The winds in the valley blew the sand into a...

  In Antonito we took a side road up to see the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Legend has it that a group of Spaniards were driving mules through the San Luis Valley in the 1860's. When they reached this place one of the mules refused to move. A small statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was found in the mule's pack and so the group decided that the mule would not budge as they were being told by Our Lady that they should build a church at this very spot. Once they had agreed to do this the mule consented to move! The church was completed in 1863 but burnt down in 1926 although the walls and towers survived the fire. There is a small hamlet around the church and 2 metal memorials copying the picture of raising the flag at Iwo Jima in World War ll. We completed the day's journey, arriving in Alamosa in the late afternoon. We had booked a stay in a hotel and went into town for a meal at a very quiet Thai restaurant.

  In Chama we turned northeast on to Highway 17 and into Colorado. As we ascended towards the Cumbres Pass (10,022 ft) the weather worsened and finally we were driving on compacted snow with very little traffic around. It was quite frightening and we were glad of the 4x4 we had rented. Descending the weather improved although it was still very cold. The road then turns east and follows the Conejos River and we stopped by the side of the road several times to look at it. Finally we were driving through Antonito, a very small town whose prosperity is now helped by the legal selling of marijuana which has been illegal in New Mexico until only recently. We stopped to look at the northern terminus of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad but the goods yard was not as extensive as the Chama one.