Galactic50: Day 44 Great Sand Dunes, NP2 min read time

After a nice refreshing stay in Durango, my buddy and I headed east to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Our excitement level was very high, since this weekend would be the height of the years biggest meteor shower. Now all we needed was for the weather to cooperate and we would be all good!

Once we setup, we grabbed some food while we waited. As the sun began to set, we headed down to the dunes to scope out the scene. The dunes are a remarkable sight on their own, but when you put a backdrop of magnificent mountains behind them, it becomes a must see. Sunset was beautiful and ugly all at the same time. Clouds were reflecting the red glow from the setting sun, but gave me pause that we would actually have a clear night.

The forecast was calling for clear skies after midnight. So after our sunset trip to the dunes to start a fire and wait out the clouds. And wait was exactly what we did and waited, and waited. Unfortunately, aside from a very small clearing in the clouds we saw very little clear skies that night. We gave it till 2 a.m. but the clouds just got worse and the storm was not moving, so we called it a night.

All was not lost though, even with the clouds we did get to see a ton of meteors. Some were so bright we could see them behind the clouds. I set up the camera to try and capture what I could, and was able to capture some small meteors, but nothing to right home about. ?

Our trip, while unproductive, was still amazing. The Great Sand Dunes impress me every time and I can’t wait to get back there.

Thoughts from the road:

There is a lot of sand, like a mountain of it.

Songs from the road:

It was a short drive so it was Opie and Jim talking politics most of the way.

Photos from the road:

The night did produce one great shot:

Sunset was glorious as well!