GRAND Magazine - Summer 2020 - 14

travel

On the open road in southern
Colorado and northern New Mexico
BY SANDY BORNSTEIN

y husband, Ira, and I frequently follow Walt
Whitman's timeless advice, "I take to the
open road, healthy, free, the world before
me." Last fall, our road trip included stops at the
Great Sand Dunes National Park and two northern New Mexico cities, Santa Fe and Taos. It was
an eclectic mix of culture, history, and food, with a
splash of natural beauty at elevations of 7,000 feet
above sea level.
GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK
Decades ago, I learned that the tallest sand dunes
in North America are located in a remote part of
southern Colorado. Finding a way to conveniently
loop this national park into a road trip itinerary took
longer than I anticipated. In retrospect, we should
have allotted more time to explore this spectacular
place, which was formed approximately 440,000 years
ago when the dunes were created by wind, water
movement, erosion, freezing, and thawing.
We followed the park ranger's suggestion to drive
our four-wheel-drive vehicle on the Medano Pass
Primitive Road to explore Sand Pit and Castle Creek
14 GRAND

Summer 2020

Sandy and husband
at Great Sand Dunes
National Park

are considerably easier to navigate. There are endless ways to explore the 30 square miles of multiple ecosystems, including dune fields and forested
trails. If you love the outdoors, I recommend spending more than one day.
Instead of staying in a motel, we spent a night at
the Zapata Ranch, a 103,000-acre working bison
and cattle ranch owned by The Nature Conservancy
and managed by Ranchlands. Our single night
accommodations included a family-style dinner,
breakfast, and brown bag lunch. Most guests come
for the multi-day dude ranch experience promoting memorable trail rides to the Great Sand Dunes,
tours of the bison ranch, and an assortment of
activities. The Zapata Ranch has a limited season
running from the beginning of March through the end
of October.

and also to spend time at Zapata Falls, approximately
8 miles outside the national park. While we witnessed
cars trying to make both of these drives on rudimentary surfaces, we don't recommend it. Disappointingly,
SANTA FE
it was necessary to walk in a creek to actually see
This wasn't the first time we were drawn to this
the waterfall. Ira braved the frigid water to capture
high-altitude city, 7,000 feet above sea level, thrivour digital images since I wasn't wearing waterproof
ing on Hispanic, Anglo, and Native American culboots.
Paved roadways access the more popular areas that tures. History, art, and food were on our radar. After

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GRAND Magazine - Summer 2020

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