Great Sand Dunes National Park. a large field of sand dunes nestled against the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains, just a couple hours from the Springs. Sand Dunes in the middle of the land-locked Rockies? yep... the whole experience is pretty surreal. The Simplistic science: fine sand is carried by the wind, and when the wind is interruupted by the mountains, it drops from the sky. In this particular location, Creeks surrounding the dune field ensure that as the dunes advance, the front edge is washed back to the backside by the creek, and blown back through again by the wind.... It's been a National Monument for a long time, but became a National Park in 2000.
Unlike many other National Parks, there are no trails you have to be careful not to step off of - there's no vegetation to kill, and no solid land to erode. Just wander over the dunes wherever you like. (locals take their sleds or some cardboard boxes to slide down in... and sometimes even their snowboards).
It's very fine soft sand, like on a well-groomed beach. wonderful to plop down on, but quite a workout trying to walk uuuup then down then uuup then down then upp some more to get to the top of the highest dunes for the best view.. I almost didn't make it - but the view from the top was incredible--as were many smaller views and sand features we saw along the way. (and it took about a quarter as long to get back down as it took to get up!)