Colorado and Kansas

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It was 53 degrees in Durango, CO this morning… quite pleasant. Tonight we are in Garden City, KS where they had a record high of 93 today.

We continued east from Durango on US 160. We are attempting to cover as much ground as possible off the interstates. US 160 and, later, CO 10 and US 50 are all in good condition without a lot of traffic. The nearest we’ve come to an interstate on our way home was when we drove over I-25 near Walsenburg, CO.

This morning we crossed the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Pass on US 160 east of Pagosa Springs.

A little further on, east of Alamosa, we turned north to visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park, a place I can’t remember having heard of before. Here, right up next to a mountain range are the highest sand dunes (750 feet) in North America… a really remarkable sight. You can learn more about them here.

Bird sightings today were mainly Black-billed Magpies which seem to be very common in southern Colorado.

After going through another pass, the terrain began to level off as we headed into the southeastern corner of Colorado and western Kansas. I read that people in this area tend to describe the land as "even" rather than "flat", but I love the flatness.

We saw one of the twelve Madonnas of the Trail in Lamar, CO. The DAR originally commissioned these to be placed in each of the twelve states along the National Old Trails Highway to commemorate the pioneer woman. Read more about them here. Much of this section of US 50 follows the old Santa Fe Trail.

Soon after we entered Kansas, we arrived in Syracuse. And from there, we continued on to Garden City where we have stopped for the night.

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Photos

US 160
Note the sign along this section of US 160 travelling east after going through Wolf Creek Pass.

US 160
This is called a snow shed, something new to me.

Great Sand Dunes National Park
Those are people wandering around out there.

Tiger Beetle
A species of beetle found only in the Great Sand Dunes.

Welcome to Kansas
entering via US 50