Sand Dunes and Garden of the Gods in Colorado.

Our visit to Colorado was really turning into a amazing adventure we had already been to Red Rocks Amphitheater the Rocky Mountain National Park and after spending a couple nights at Rocky Mountain National Park doing a bit of hiking we then decided to move on to see the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado. Leaving our cabin that early morning it took just over 4 hours to reach the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado from Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Reaching the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado there was a entries fee to enter the park this was about $20 US per vehicle you could either camp out in the camping grounds or stay in a lodges on site but we were not staying the night we just wanted to have a bit of a play around in the sand dunes. I remember as a kid we use to have a couple mountains of sand dunes behind the house we use to live in and every afternoon after school my brother and myself use to grab our piece of cardboard and go sand-boarding down these sand dunes before dinner it was great fun but we were not going to be doing this here , we were saving our energy for the horse ride later. If you did want to sand-board here on the sand dunes there was equipment you could hire from the national park.

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These sand dunes here in Colorado are spread over 30 square miles that's a lot of sand , i really can't understand how people in countries of miles of sand dune deserts find there way around without any designated trails every mountain of sand looked the same to me i would be going around in circles 🤣

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What did amaze me though was how this land formation came to be were you can go from great sand dunes to forest to great mountain peaks reaching to 14,000 feet ( 4,267 meters ) above sea level and then to splashing around in the fresh waters of the Medano Creek , truly amazing formations of mother nature carved out over thousands of years by wind and rain it was so stunning to see this.

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The tallest sand dune known here in the great sand dunes national park of Colorado is called the Star Dune towering to a height of 755 feet ( 230 meters ) and if you decided to climb this one it is suggested that you do it early morning or evenings to avoid high surface temperatures we did not attempt this one as we were moving on for a horseback ride at the Gardens of the Gods Park which was going to be cooler temperatures.

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The Garden of the Gods Park is another beautiful part of Colorado comprising of a area of about 1,300 acres of sandstone formations you can go hiking along the many trails , do the horseback riding or take a jeep tour but if you don't want to do any of that you can simply drive through the Garden of the Gods with no fees to enter this park.

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We opt for the horseback ride them sand dunes hard really taken a impact on us it was hard work so a relaxing horse ride was the way to go we decided on a two hour horseback ride through the Garden of the Gods with a professional guide costing us $85 per person and this was through the Academy Riding Stables it was one enjoyable ride and experience riding through these trails seeing all the main features of rock formations and the great journey of Colorado is just getting better by the day 😊

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#beautifulsunday by @ace108

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