Mountaintop Experience!

We camped three nights at Great Sand Dunes National Park to acclimate to altitude. The GSD is at 8200 feet -- quite a bit higher than flatlands Chicago at 800 feet. To promote acclimatization, we did easy walking and we were "sucking air" big time just walking up slight uphills. By day three we successfully hiked 9 miles up Mosca Pass, elevation gain of nearly 2000 feet, and continued higher to the cell phone towers up over 10,000 feet.



The trail bequeathed vistas, magnificent scenery, and wondrous wildlife displays.



This wondrous high altitude meadow was ablaze with yellow, white, pink, purple, and blue wildflowers. A close look at the left might reveal some of them.



The journey down went quicker but required diligent attention in places to avoid mishaps.



There was one casualty --Ellen's boot "blew out" so we jerry-rigged a fix by tying her hat's tie down strap around the loose sole. After the hike, she discovered the other boot was also falling apart, so a new pair of boots had to be purchased in Salida.