Great Sand Dunes National Park and Penitente Canyon Canyon

Hello everyone,

      Wow. Just wow. Spring break seems like forever ago. Even yesterday seems like forever ago. My school schedule just exploded when I got back. The only moments I've had calm is in my yoga practice. It's more restful than sleep at this point.  But I have a moment this morning, so I thought I'd take a moment and tell you my first camping trip of the season....and the first one I've taken since....I actually think it's been since high school. Oh my! That's longer than I thought! Going on this trip did help me remember why I love camping and did remind me why I started doing all of this. 

Prepping for the trip.

     The day before the trip I started getting everything together. I found this amazing cargo liner, and it did wonders! I also picked up a new bumper sticker. It says "Nomad" if you can't read the picture. I couldn't help myself. I've never put a bumper stick on my SUV and I bought it in 2010. I moved me. It tells the world who I am. That's what bumper stickers should do.

      Then it was off running errands. My beautiful roommate, C, came with me. We went everywhere! Even by REI to pick up a headlamp (I don't know why I hadn't picked up one sooner). This was at a stoplight outside of Costco. It wouldn't feel like camping without jerky!

 I left Saturday (March 28th. See? A long time ago!) for Great Sand Dunes National Park. I loaded up the car with the help of my lovely roommate, and grabbed coffee at one of my favorite coffee spots.

Pre-trip selfie.

The dogs playing at the nearby dog park
 before being trapped in the car.

 It was a beautiful drive.  A lot flatter than I would have expected, but I did eventually get to some mountains.

The beginning of the drive was rather flat.

     I love that the trip gave me some alone time. I love my roommates and my friends and even some of my classmates, but as an extreme introvert people are also extremely exhausting.

There definitely were mountains to be seen though!

On the way there, I listened to music and thought about what was to come. To be safe, I made it so that my first trip was with my Animal Ecology class as a make up trip for a class I missed. When asked if they were coming several people raised their hands. I've never spent so much time outside of class with that many class mates. I was actually rather nervous. 

Getting closer and closer.

I ended up being nervous for nothing. Only one other student showed up with his family, and they were at a different campground. It was a reminder of how much anxiety is still in my life. I am so much better than I used to be. I haven't had a panic attack in months, but an unknown social situation was bringing up old fears and making me wonder if I had made the right choice.

Driving into the mountains.

Driving into the mountains is one of my favorite things about Colorado. They make everything seem so small. I think about how long it took for them to form and it makes my problems seem insignificant. I realize that in 1000 years, whether or not I remembered to turn in a homework assignment won't matter. All that will matter in the end is if I helped contribute to making the world a better place.

It got flat again. -.-

That thought might make people really uncomfortable, but I love how insignificant I am in the path of the universe. It means I'm free to make mistakes, I am free to live my life of almost no consequence. But, most of all, I love how it allows me to be big. If I fail, nothing changes. That failure will not destroy the universe. HOWEVER, if I succeed, if I do something magnificent that changes humanity's mark on the planet, or galaxy, or even universe, then I have achieved true greatness. Recognizing my insignificance is probably one of the most freeing things to happen to me.

Haha! Finally getting close to my goal!

The closer I got, the more I remembered the only vacation my family took when I was a kid. We road tripped it around Colorado. Since I was from Kansas, the mountains, the dunes, the deserts, all of it was new and exciting to me. I remembered this view. I was only in 6th grade at the time, but the dunes always left an impression on me. It was like a memory of a great desert I had never been to.

 Once we got there, it appeared that my teacher wasn't the only one who had cabin fever thanks to a pretty harsh winter. Pictures still don't do them justice. But the dogs were ready to run and play!

I'm not sure if either of the dogs have ever seen sand like this before. But they were enjoying every last minute of it. The wanted off the leash so bad. Instead I settled for walking as fast as I could everywhere so that they could explore.

Obligatory trip selfie.

After we wandered around for a bit, my teacher, his wife, and I headed out to go see the sand hill cranes for their yearly migration.

But I couldn't leave without a panoramic image of such a beautiful place. The dogs weren't fond of me stopping and not letting them out of the car though.

After a quick stop to see the cranes, which wasn't as many as I had hoped, we headed to the campsite. A least it was an amazing view.

The drive was breathtaking. We almost got lost a couple times, but we eventually made it and got set up. That's when I realized the dogs had never been camping. They were very confused as to why I was setting up this shelter thingy, why I was I putting their stuff in it?!?!

They did eventually settle down, and I was able to go on a walk and explore the campgrounds. We stayed in Penitente Canyon Campgrounds. I highly recommend it. There are even petroglyphs.

There are also basic bathrooms. They porta-potty styled, but they in a nice concrete enclosure and they provide hand sanitizer. They were the cleanest campground restrooms I'd ever encountered! After introducing my instructor and his wife to Google Sky Map I was off to bed. Well, after a couple episodes of the Addams Family. :) 

I forgot how chilly it gets at night. Looks like I'll have to invest in some base layers.

I woke up with the sun and decided to take the dogs on a walk around the campgrounds while there weren't many people awake.

I think I definitely will be returning to these campgrounds. How could anyone not want to see this view multiple times in their lifetime?

There were some really interesting nature things happening. Rock formations that I didn't understand, and a tree that didn't care about the rock, it was going to grow anyways!

I think this is my favorite picture of the dogs. They were just so happy to be outside and smelling new things. They really do light up my world.

It was time to leave, though. I packed everything up and started to leave. On the way out, I did get to see some interesting things. Prong horns, for one.

Giant bird statues for two.

Even a UFO watch tower. I might have gotten closer, but I was tired and I had a long drive ahead. Little did I know it was going to be longer than I expected!

 At first the drive was free and clear. I thought I was going to make it back to Denver without a hitch. I thought I was going to just be able to enjoy the scenery.

 I was tired from the night before, though. Tank was sad he didn't fit in my sleeping bag, so he thought sleeping on top of me was a viable option. I put on an audio book by one of my favorite authors to help keep me awake. 

Then, I hit traffic. Everyone was rubbernecking at a forest fire. You couldn't see the fire itself, but there was smoke everywhere. BE CAREFUL WITH FIRE SAFETY. DO NOT FEED THE FIRE GODS!

 This little spot on the drive reminded me of the few trips that I've made to Aspen since living in Colorado. It's just so beautiful here. Did you know that there are people who live in Colorado who've never been to the mountains? It's a shame. I feel like seeing the different things that nature has to offer is life and perspective changing.

 I was going to miss the mountains. I wasn't looking forward to getting back to the daily grind of school. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE learning, I just hate homework.

 I also love being a scientist. Everything I see, I think of science and evolution, and how amazing it is that everything has evolved the way it has, how beautiful and deadly and nurturing nature can be.

I think of how we have laid claim to something that gave birth to us, how we can tear it down. We as humans are biting the hand that feeds us, and people would rather worry about the Kardashians than make a difference in the world.

The trip was an eye opener. I realized that I couldn't keep people in my life who don't value the environment, who don't recognize that oxygen is more important the money.

 Then I got stuck in traffic again.

Over all, I loved the experience. I was hard on me and I definitely know some things that I would do differently. I will absolutely go camping again this season. Hopefully, multiple times! 

My next step is to buy a tent, and find more places to go. If you have any suggestions let me know! I can Google things all I like, but I want the hidden places. I want to take the road less traveled. But, until then I'm off to play with my leeches and elephant DNA.

See you soon.

Be the love you wish to have in your life,

Victoria