On the road to Alamosa, Colorado

---

Our first camping trip in Colorado with the motorhome! We were excited to get out and explore. The Great Sand Dunes was on our list of places to see in Colorado. We found a KOA campground with an opening mid July so we headed off for our 3 1/2 hr trip to the Alamosa KOA. Just a few weeks prior to our arrival, Alamosa had experienced the 3rd largest fire in Colorado - The Spring Fire. In fact the highway had just opened the day before our travel and it was 91% contained. We could still smell and see some smoke that resulted from the fires. It was a very sad thing to see all the nice green landscape that had turned to brown and black from the fire damage. The campground was a nice campground which made for a good base camp for us to explore the Alamosa area. Our campsite was a pull-thru gravel site which was pretty level. You could see the mountains in the distance and there were a couple horses in a fenced in area just over the berm. We didn't spend too much time in the town of Alamosa except to pick up a few groceries and we had dinner at the Rubi Slipper (which had good reviews on-line). The town of Alamosa was your normal,typical looking town. The Rubi Slipper was definitely the place to be as it was very busy and they had a large selection of burgers on the menu. The burgers were great! The one thing that was unique about it was they served the old classic Coca-Cola glass bottle with a glass of ice for your coke rather than a foundation soda.



PATHFINDER 4X4
For our first day in Alamosa, we rented a Jeep from Pathfinder 4x4 and drove the Medano Pass which went through the Great Sand Dunes Park and Reserve. It was a fun time exploring, driving through creeks, driving the rocky paths and seeing the views from the top of the mountains. After spending the day exploring in the Jeep, we realized we needed to get a Jeep of our own so we could explore more of Colorado on the off-roads. Hiking was also a great way to explore too but some of the trails were just too hard for us with the elevations in Colorado.

GREAT SAND DUNES
Our 2nd day in Alamosa we headed for the sand dunes. We were lucky enough to have a cooler day and a recent rain the night before to keep the sand cooler and more compact. As you are driving up to the sand dunes, they appear to be fairly small with the large Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind them. But as you get closer to the sand dunes, the mountains disappear and all you see is sand and sky. The dunes are massive. I called it a very large sandbox. Although there were several people there at the time, it didn't seem like it because the dunes are so large and spread out and people looked like ants at the top of the peaks. Due to the drought, the Medano Creek was not flowing during our visit so there was no water to be seen. We wore our hiking boots which made it a little easier to trek through the sand. We hiked to one of peaks (but not the tallest). It was a tough climb through the sand, but once at the top, the view was pretty amazing. Well worth the trip to see it for our own eyes.

ZAPATA FALLS
Our 2nd adventure of the day was to check out the Zapata Falls. The road leading to the falls was a very rocky, bumpy 3 mile drive. Just as we arrived at the parking lot a storm was coming through so we waited it out. To get to the falls you had to hike 1/2 mile to the creek which wasn't too bad but it was rocky. As we arrived at the creek we saw lots of people trying to make there way through the water in the creek. Luckily our hiking boots saved us again as we had no problems maneuvering through the slippery rocks and water to get to the actual waterfall. Our boots even stayed dry! The creek went into a cave where the waterfall was. From pictures it doesn't look like much but in person it was pretty cool to see the rushing water falling from high in the rocks of the cave. We took a few pics and quickly got out of the way as there were lots of people there. Jeff was kind enough to help another lady who was having some troubles maneuvering around the rocks in the creek.

ARTESIAN HOTSPRINGS
We ended our evening with a 30 min. drive to the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool for our first natural artesian hot springs experience. The Greenhouse was an adults-only soaking area which featured 3 small soaking tubs with temps varying from 103-110 degrees, a 10ft. x 75ft. zero entry pool with water fountain and a 10 person sauna. Surrounding the pools were lots of green plants and flowers. Also there was a bar! But they only served beer and wine and there was a 3 drink limit. (if you have ever been in a hot tub there is a warning that the effects of soaking in a hot tub enhances the effects of alcohol - it's true because you dehydrate). We grabbed a bite to eat, tried drinking some wine coolers/cider beers (which weren't going down well) and soaked a little in the tubs. The 110 and 108 tubs were way too hot. We didn't really notice much difference from the natural artesian water other than it didn't smell like chlorine. The pools are closed every Thursday for them to drain and refill. There were other more natural outdoor hot springs in the area but some you had to reserve.

We had an overall nice trip exploring the Alamosa area. The part that was so interesting and cool to us was how it was so open. It's an "Open Range" area where and you would drive for miles without seeing much but just open land and a few scattered houses or campers here and there. Some people just lived "off the grid" either without power or their own remote solar power and their own sewer/water. It was a very remote area and interesting to see and experience.

---