After some hours of the same kind of landscape we were finally crossing the border to Colorado, and we could not lose the opportunity to take a picture with the sign. (Joaquim tried to go up but you can see what happened).
Our views started to change and for the first time in my life I saw mountains with peaks covered with snow, that was incredible and I was fascinated.
So we were finally ready to visit the main attraction of our first day, the Great Sand Dunes.
I never imagined to see something like that, we were in the middle of the sand dunes that are usually associated with deserts and warm places. However, it was a cold place with frozen mountains in the background and a stream made of melted snow from the peaks.
After we crossed the river and almost turn to a human icicles we started to walk into the direction of the sand dunes. I didn’t know exactly where we were going to stop and how far Trace would be guiding us. It was very hard to walk in the dunes and my dad was having a lot of difficulties with that, but for my surprise we went to one of the highest peaks and I had one of the most marvelous views in my life.
The dunes are huge, bigger than the skylines of KC downtown! That was a spectacular sunset that I will remember forever!
We could not stay for a long time in the peak because the light of the day was going down and we didn’t have a place to sleep yet.
We had to cross the river with no sun lights anymore and carry Trace, because he has a very serious problem with cold temperatures.
After some hours walking and a whole day of trip we were very tired and we didn’t have a camping site or place to stay, so we just drove a few minutes near a camp, we pitched our tent and slept. By far this was the coldest night of the trip, with temperatures below 32 F. It was an unforgettable and very happy day but we ended up having a very unpleasant surprise the next morning when I tell you next week!
A Brazilian lost in the USA 