One might think that the tallest sand dunes on the continent would be in some exotic beach location that few people visit such as the Bering Strait of Alaska, or along the hurricane-ravaged southeastern coasts of the United States. I was surprised to learn that they are located hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean in, of all places, southern Colorado. President Herbert Hoover declared the Great Sand Dunes a National Monument in 1932…
After our stop at the Dignity statue, we drove west two-plus hours on the arrow-straight and mostly flat Interstate 90. Driving into the park was a surprising and impressive change of scenery, where I remarked that it was like New Mexico’s “Bisti Badlands, but on steroids.” Badlands NP covers a lot more territory and has larger rock formations than Bisti, and is easier to access. We arrived at our campground just on…