Mt Silverheels with Ollie

Afternoon Ride

Lunch Walk

Afternoon Walk

Having an extra day off, I made the trip to the Great Sand Dunes were I recently found out there's another contender for the tallest pile of sand in North America - Hidden Dune. According to the NPS, it either ties or is even a few feet higher than Star Dune, which I've visted a couple times.

I chose a pretty steep initial ascent point, thinking the plants growing on the upper half would provide some good support. They didn't. But after a lot of struggling, the going was then a lot easier. I explored the three candidates for Dune 8817 (the dune probably shifted after lidar, and these three spots are all fairly close in elevation). Dune 8817 was previously interpolated Dune 8860 and was thought to be ranked. Alas, it was demoted and High Dune is now the only ranked dune in the park. I spotted Hidden Dune pretty easily, and made the trek over. Pretty cool spot! After taking some pictures, I wandered back up, across, and down ridges, then ran down the final steep hill. Lots of mosquitoes awaited my arrival at the car. Success!

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Ben Loftin

Dune 8817 and Hidden Dune

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Mt Silverheels with Ollie

Afternoon Ride

Afternoon Ride

Lunch Walk

Afternoon Walk

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