We did it...round 2 is next weekend!

Roscoe, Rooster and I went camping at the Great Sand Dunes National Park this past weekend. What an absolutely beautiful place! It was our third trip there; Rooster's first of course.

We arrived on Friday morning around 11:00, the perfect time if you want the pick of spots as there are no reservations. We set up the tent, etc., then had lunch and headed out for a hike. Several weeks ago we purchased a Kelty backpack to hike with Rooster, which has worked out quite well especially with the addition of a sun shade. On this hike Rooster was able to fall asleep - perfect!

We decided against a fire on the first night, opting to just enjoy a beer with the sunset. With Rooster asleep in the tent, we watched the sun disappear behind the Dunes. Unfortunately we had loud talking night owls next door who stayed up until at least 3 talking about how they don't like their general manager or the way their bonus system is set-up. Um, boring. So in the morning we decided to move to another campsite. Not quite the same view, but still beautiful. It actually turned out to be a bigger spread, softer surface and a better set-up (the fire pit was further away from the tent).

We hiked the dunes for about an hour around lunchtime. Since we have explored the highest peaks during previous visits, and because we (well, one of us) had a 25+ pound backpack on, we decided to stick to exploring the flat base area.

It rained in the evening for about one hour but cleared out for the rest of the night. Roscoe built a great fire while I put Rooster to bed and we enjoyed another beer in front of the fire for the remainder of the evening. The next morning was filled with breaking down camp and repacking the car. We did it in record time for having to do it with an infant in tow. We were on the road by 10 and had a fairly peaceful drive back home.

So, this weekend we are attempting round 2! With an added twist of course - we get to hike in 1/2 mile to our campsite. Yes, a bit burdensome but it will be plenty worth the quiet stillness of back country camping.