In this post, I review a 4×4 driving class the Trekkers took and our adventure at Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Author’s note: In a previous post regarding one of our epic, summer road trips, I mentioned we canceled plans at this locale due to me falling ill. I had originally intended this adventure as a present for Mr. Trekker for achieving Tenure, but, since our plans got changed, it ended up being an anniversary trip instead.
The Great Sand Dunes National Park is located in south-central Colorado, near the small town of Saguache. The park is nestled among the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the San Luis Valley.
We were able to reschedule our trip for the fall (which consequently is a much prettier time to visit that area due to leaf colors. It’s also less busy and much cooler, all pluses in the Trekker book! Ya’ll know how I LOVE the heat! 😓)
Unbeknownst to us, when we had originally planned to visit, in early June, is one of the busiest times at the park. This is when the creek runs high due to snowmelt in the mountains.
The Great Sand Dunes are situated in a GORGEOUS location!
We woke up the first morning surrounded by a 360-degree view of the rounded peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Gorgeous pictures painted the walls of the rental house, reflecting the spectacular scenery found in the surrounding area.
I’ve waxed lyrical about our love for Air B&B’s before. This choice was a simple, rustic old farmhouse that had been renovated. The kitchen was well-stocked with the cooking equipment/utensils you might need and beautiful cabinetry adorned the walls. The home offered plenty of room for a family to sleep and is centrally located in the San Luis Valley, making an ideal base camp for day treks to the Great Sand Dunes or any hiking, 4×4-ing, or winter sports you want to engage in within the surrounding area.
The adorable kitchen in the rental houseSunrise over the Sangre de Cristo range
We rented a jeep for the weekend and spent Saturday in a hands-on 4×4 driving class. We learned proper tire placement, how to navigate various routes (picking the correct line, sticking to the high ground), as well as acquiring safety tips and how to get ourselves out of sticky situations (such as fashioning a winch using a hi-lift jack to get a vehicle out of a bind).
We then spent Sunday trekking around Great Sand Dunes National Park, driving the Medano Pass Primitive Road, and getting sandblasted on the dunes (it was windy that day!)
Medano Creek, which you cross numerous times when driving the Primitive Road, runs fairly low in the fall which made for easier crossings for us novices. If you want the challenge of higher water crossings early June through summer would be a better time to visit (though there are times in spring when the road is closed due to extremely high water from snowmelt and spring rains.) Also, as the road is two-way but is only one lane wide, there were times we found it complicated to navigate while leaving room for others to pass. I can’t imagine how this challenge may be exacerbated in the crowded, summer months.
Pathfinders 4×4
We rented the jeep through Pathfinders 4×4 and its proprietor, Cam Benton, taught the class. The company offers jeeps for rent as well as jeep tours and 4×4 driving classes. You can find out more at Pathfinders 4×4.
I cannot say enough about Cam, he was incredible! He was friendly, personable, and a wonderful teacher. Not only did he allow us to cancel our original reservations inside the 5-day “no cancellations” window, but he also gave us an almost total refund (with the exception of our initial deposit which he then credited back to us when we rescheduled).
Cam also owns several Air B&B properties. We had originally reserved a room in his home for that weekend but the week before our arrival he suggested we could use the nearby rental house, which he also owned, if we preferred. It provided more privacy, more space for us, and was actually more centrally located to our planned activities for that weekend. The cost of the home was close to double the cost of the room we actually paid for but he offered it to us for no extra charge.
**To be clear, Cam has not reimbursed me in any way for giving him this glowing review, I just firmly believe in giving credit where credit is due. 😁
As is often true for mountain weather, we were able to experience multiple seasons in just a few days. The weekend was full of clear blue skies and warm temperatures in southern Colorado, and we had intended to stay through Sunday night. However, with impending Winter Storm warnings for the Denver area on Monday (Denver was between us and home) we opted to leave Sunday afternoon instead. Not all was lost though. This change in travel plans allowed us to enjoy a leisurely, beautiful fall drive on scenic US 285 through the South Park area and Trout Creek Pass back to Denver, and on Monday we were able to enjoy our first snow of the season!
Below are some more pictures from our weekend of fun. Thanks, as usual, to Mr. Trekker for several of these!
Sunset over the Great Sand Dunes and Medano CreekFall at Great Sand Dunes National Park!Snow in Denver!
This is a great park to visit no matter the time of year. Definitely put it on your “to-do” list!
Have you ever visited the park or driven the Medano Creek Road? Tell me about it in the comments!
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In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I LOVE to travel and I LOVE road trips. The freedom of the open road; the excitement of not knowing what you’ll find around the next corner; the varying beauty of the ever-changing landscape; the unique individuals you encounter along the way. For my final “2017 Summer Trip” post, I thought I’d offer a compilation of the various thoughts/observations I had, and lessons learned while trekking across the country this summer.
Road Trip across The Great Plains:
I’m always pleasantly surprised at how lovely I find western Nebraska to be with its rugged badlands and rolling prairies. As I always assumed all of Nebraska to be flat, I didn’t expect to enjoy it more than Kansas. Although its seas of green and brown crops (and cows!) has a beauty in its own right, I actually found western Kansas to be boring as it was “flat-as-a-pancake” flat–perhaps the beauty of the corn belt is lost on me having grown up surrounded by it. 😇 Both states showcased “horizon-to-horizon” blue skies and incredibly friendly people. The country roads lined with upside-down boots planted on fence posts accentuated the iconic scene.
The moose observation point at State Forest State Park
Unfortunately, the Plains aren’t comprised solely of simplistic beauty. Many of the small towns we encountered were incredibly run-down with boarded up store windows on their main streets and lack of development. They just felt depressed. Many of these places appeared as though they’ve been languishing for decades. They’re either too remote, too small or they lack much impact on the greater country so they are forgotten and left behind. One can imagine the people living there may start to feel the same way.
Traveling through these areas helped me to understand an often misunderstood portion of our population. In recent months, some people have asked, “how did we get here?” (politically speaking). For me, spending time in these downtrodden areas offered an explanation. It’s understandable that distressed people flock to anything that appears to promise relief from what has become the unfortunate norm.
Similar to politics that smell to high heaven, let’s talk about feedlots! 😉 The smell…the sheer size—thousands of head of cattle corralled in pens as far as the eye can see–the smell. 🤥 I’ve had minor experiences with these while traveling around the country in the past but never to the extent that we encountered on this trip. Wow…did I mention the smell? Not only are they immense, but the odor emanating off a feedlot on a 90-degree day is something to behold! I thought the pit toilet we encountered at State Forest State Park was bad! 😝 I almost felt bad for the poor bovines, being fattened for slaughter…and then I’d catch a whiff trailing on the breeze of someone grilling in their backyard and think, “mmmmm…steak…” 🤤
My memory of this state will always be of heading off into an endless expanse of desert punctuated by scrub brush and beautiful mountain mesas; under the watchful gaze of a buzzard poised on an electrical pole; as old telegraph wires frame the railroad that accompanies you on your journey. I expected the state to be desolate, but it felt even more rural than South Dakota, and that’s saying something! I also fell in love with a pink, blooming, cactus bush we encountered along the roadside that Google informs me is a “cane cholla cactus”.
I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, but I never expected to see so much rain in this state. Isn’t it supposed to be a desert? 🤔 We saw rain each of the five days we spent there and regularly experienced “sunshowers”—when a cloud would darken the sky and then rain would pelt your windshield as the sun returned. I certainly didn’t expect to see temps in the 50s (in rainstorms) in New Mexico that time of year!
The Rockies!
The drastic change in ecosystems between the northern and southern portions of the state was stark. I found the south to be depressing with the hot, dry, desert that was permeated by cracked earth. As you traveled north you quickly returned to almost a prairie-like scrubland. This area reminded me of northeastern Wyoming. The grass was such a verdant spring green color that it felt like going back in time to early spring, even though it was the first week of June.
Lessons Learned on the Road:
As we drove past a rockslide on I-25 that had closed both westbound lanes, I couldn’t help but be amazed by the power of Nature and the fact that, even in 2017, we don’t really control it, we just react to what it throws at us. It was encouraging to see how it carries on. As an example, when the pines die from disease or fire, the aspen/birch trees shoot up to replace them. It may take a couple of decades, and it may never be “the same” again, but Nature can’t truly be contained. As can be seen in the beautiful aspen groves, this change doesn’t have to be a bad thing!
New Mexico has a unique landscape, Colorado has unique people
–We met some very interesting characters on our jaunt around the Rocky Mountain state, but everyone was friendly and seemed to be good-hearted. Sitting in a parking lot at a state park, a lady walked up to my window and accosted me with, “so…what do you think?” No “hello” or pleasantries. I was like, “uh, about the park?” She started laughing. As it turns out, she wanted my personal opinion of my Outback, which I then happily gave her!
–As we were talking with the kindly elderly volunteers at a southern Colorado Welcome Center, another verbose local engaged us in conversation regarding made-up cowboy names for our dog–who wasn’t there. (Another patron had brought a friendly dog into the store which initiated the whole conversation.)
–There was the wisened cowboy who closely resembled a certain “Jolly Old Elf” (on holiday?) who was playing the fiddle at a rest stop (he was quite good!)
More of the beautiful Rocky Mountains!
–We also spotted a VW van full of twenty-something “Hippies” at a gas station (it was a very iconic site).
–Then there was the man who “followed” us from Mesa Verde to Ridgeway State Park. He was recognizable because he used no tent, choosing only to sleep in a bivvy bag out in the open, under the stars. This made him memorable and was probably the only reason I noticed him (I’m not sure he noticed us). He also just happened to be at campsites near ours at both parks.
Random Musings:
–I was heartened by all the solar panels we saw that appeared to be used privately as well a commercially. We also saw countless stretches of land accented by wind turbines. Regardless of any official policies that may or may not be put in place by local/state/federal governments, these sights encouraged me that the country as a whole has turned a corner and is “going green”.
An exception to this would be the farming of cattle in arid areas. We saw quite a bit of watering of pastureland to provide food for the cows. I couldn’t help but marvel at what appeared to be the absurdity of it. Driving through land that is naturally arid and seeing water being used to keep grass green when it naturally wouldn’t be. I couldn’t help but think, “what’s the point?” I grew up on a small farm and I, in no way, wish to shirk people the joy of that lifestyle or to run them out of their livelihood, but I do believe in the principle of “Work Smarter, Not Harder”. It just seems that we should stop fighting Nature. As we feel more effects from climate change these struggles could become even more pronounced. Let’s make the land productive by working with it and letting it work for us. If there’s not enough water naturally to keep grazing land for cows in a given location, perhaps it’s time to initiate a new crop there that thrives in (and is preferably native to) a dry climate.
–The regular appearance of “roadside tables” accompanied us along our route, and we enjoyed them very much! They make very convenient lunch stops, offering space for humans and our 4-legged companions to stretch our legs. We have also found picnic lunches to be more relaxing for the ease of stopping they afford. They offer more healthy food opportunities, they allow you to enjoy the outdoors more, and they’re cheaper than stopping at restaurants (fast food or otherwise!)
Lovely view of a stream flowing through Telluride, CO
–One fun activity I’ve found as you start racking unique road trips under your belt is to compare how similar various areas of the country feel. Many of the mountain vistas we encountered in the Colorado Rockies reminded us of views we saw on previous trips to Glacier or Yellowstone National Parks.
As we descended out of the Sacramento Mountains westward, heading into Alamagordo, New Mexico, I was reminded of the Black Hills. The low mountains sporting the drier, ponderosa pine forest made me feel like we had returned home. Western Colorado reminds me of Southern California with the desert/scrubland. I had no idea how dry it is. I knew the southern portion would be dry but I assumed the northern portion (east and west) would be wet and foresty, like Rocky Mountain National Park. Out near Grand Junction, it was pure desert, which reminded me of nearby Utah and the Moab area.
–One unique aspect we had not seen before was several miles-long trains, just sitting on the tracks that paralleled the highway. I got the impression their stay was intended to be long-term as there was a break in the line at EVERY SINGLE crossing we came across to allow vehicles to pass. I can’t imagine how much work it took to get that in place!
–This trip helped us to really appreciate how spoiled we are living in the Black Hills. Beautiful campgrounds are plentiful that cater to RV’s and “tenters” alike; fires are usually allowed in campgrounds (unless the fire danger is high); firewood is easily available; the weather is frequently lovely (any time of the year); and, smoky days notwithstanding, we’re regularly blessed with truly blue skies (air pollution is low here as is the haze you find in numerous other areas of the county). Although somewhat isolated, we have access to many opportunities usually found in larger cities while still being able to enjoy a small-town air. We’re also blessed to have areas that are thriving and changing, rather than falling victim to the passage of time. (All that being said, while it’s a nice place to visit, this is an AWFUL place to live and NO ONE should move here). 😉 😇
To conclude, I truly feel a road trip is one of the best ways to experience the diverse cultures that make up the “melting-pot” population of our great country. There are things to learn from every region of this great land and the only way to truly appreciate it or understand it is to experience it! So get out there!
What lessons have you learned from road-tripping around the country? Tell me about them in the comments!
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We spent an interesting few days in New Mexico on our 2017 road trip. Included is our trip to the International UFO Museum in Roswell, an excursion at White Sands National Monument and…the flu?
New Mexico was next on our list for our 2017 road trip after the Great Plains. Originally we had planned on visiting Amarillo and the Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the Texas panhandle. However, with the expected 90-degree temperatures and plenty of scrub-land ahead of us, we decided to press on into New Mexico, instead–as we found out later, this was a VERY wise choice…
Tucumcari, New Mexico
We stayed at the Tucumcari KOA, in the northwest corner of the state, for our first night.
Aside from a two-hour rain delay in the tent setup, it was a decent campground, though it was noisy. It is actually located on Route 66, but, unfortunately, is literally only a few hundred feet from the coursing vehicles on I-40 (Route 66 runs with the highway in this area).
The tent sites all came with grills and protected picnic tables, though again, firewood was hard to come by and there were no fire rings.
I was unclear as to the discouragement of campfires in this part of the country. It is the desert, to be fair, but it’s comprised mostly of sandy scrubland. It’s not entirely clear to me where the concern about the spread of wildfires lies (but I will defer to the experts on this).
Lack of tent sites in “campgrounds”
Another frustration we encountered in the early part of our trip was what seemed to be catering to RVs by the parks. There’s nothing wrong with RVing, but if a park’s facilities are better matched to an RV and not a tent, then proprietors, you are an RV park, not a campground. I say this because when travelers who are unfamiliar with the area locate a “campground” on Google, it is frustrating to then find they offer no tent sites. 😡
When daydreaming of road trips, it’s easy to drum up iconic images of a station wagon pulling a tiny camper, cooking outside, and even sleeping out under the stars. But until we reached the more remote parks in Colorado, we saw very few tents. Does no one tent camp anymore? Is it a bygone pastime? For the first half of the trip, we felt like “tenters” were just an afterthought to many of the campgrounds we visited.
Strange Animals in New Mexico
We encountered several new fauna in this state. One, a Western Kingbird, is a beautiful bird that resembles a robin, though it is grey and has a yellow rather than red breast. It’s also apparently known to be quite social. Our new friend planted himself on a tree branch only a few feet from us for the majority of the morning and proffered us a lovely serenade while we packed up camp.
I found favor with another local while washing dishes that morning. I saved a Carolina Wolf Spider from the outdoor sink! (I found the name ironic as I don’t remember seeing them when we lived in the Carolinas.) As I learned later, this is the largest of the wolf spider species. For a fervent arachnophobe, I thought this rescue was quite an impressive feat! Its body was grey and tan and it appeared to have black “socks” on its feet. I could also see black mandibles that it was unsuccessfully attempting to use to clean the water off its legs.
I’m not usually a fan of spiders in my home—though after learning that a favorite food of the benevolent wolf spider is the fearsome black widow, I do try to release them in my garage. Feast my friends! My zeal for killing “those that skitter” has been lessened by sage advice I received from my father-in-law, “When a critter comes into your home he’s trespassing on your space, but when you go outside you’re trespassing on his.” So, I try to uphold this mindset and maintain a tolerant coexistence with our creepy, crawly, outdoor cohabitors.
International UFO Museum, Roswell, New Mexico
Later that day, I was able to knock another item off my Road Trip Bucket List when we visited Roswell, New Mexico, and the International UFO Museum! Yes, it is just as wacky as it sounds!
I was a little disappointed with the actual town of Roswell. It’s a fine place, but it is, in fact, just another town (with the occasional alien waving at you from a hotel sign). They do have a McDonald’s shaped like a UFO, but even that was underwhelming as it’s just the playground portion (apparently the inside is rather cool as it is alien/space-themed, but we chose not to partake).
The actual “alien crash site” is located on private land so we weren’t able to visit, but the town is missing out on great revenue potential. The Deep South has ghost tours, the Plains has tornado-chasing tours, and Roswell should have UFO-viewing tours! (Seriously, an enterprising person should get on this, you’d make a killing!)
The museum was interesting. I’ve long been a fan of Unsolved Mysteries, X-Files, Ancient Aliens, etc. so nothing we saw or heard was really surprising. Mostly it was comprised of a lot of suppositions and hearsay (though my coworkers used it as a prime opportunity to make numerous jokes at my expense upon my return).
The International UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico!
We reached Alamogordo in the southcentral part of the state that night with plans to camp at the Oliver Lee Memorial State Park which we had heard many good things about. However, as we pulled into town and storm clouds were again becoming entrenched directly over the park (and we still suffered from a lack of firewood), we opted for a shower and a hotel instead.
White Sands National Park
The next day we ventured to the White Sands National Park to tour the sand dunes. We were EXTREMELY lucky as the high for the day was only going to be in the mid-80s and there was a breeze and a fair amount of clouds to provide respite from the sun (I honestly couldn’t think of better weather in that area in early summer ).
We got a bit of a late start, not beginning our trek until around 10 am, though we were well-prepared with plenty of water, sunscreen, light clothing, and sun hats. We also had a plan to not venture too far, to watch each other for heat stress, and to only be gone an hour or so (there is NO SHADE at the dunes and the reflection of the sunlight on the white sand makes heat stress an even greater risk—as do the dry winds that increase the chances of dehydration).
The dunes were fascinating! The sand was a beautiful light cream color (hence the name) and we saw several similarly colored lizards that would have been perfectly camouflaged had they not been dashing across the hot surface at the time. There’s an airbase and missile range nearby so we were treated to military jets zooming overhead, the thunder from their engines ricocheting over the heat waves as the San Andres mountains loomed in the distance.
Sick while on vacation
We ended our hike around noon, just as we were both starting to feel the sun’s effects and went to the shaded picnic area for lunch. I was feeling a bit queasy, but that’s not unusual when I get overheated and hungry. We were out of the sun, getting some food and a cool drink, and relaxing in the shade, so all should have been well…
…after lunch, we drove around a bit more, took some pictures, and then started to make our way across the rutted road back to the Visitor’s Center (we had plans of camping that night at the State Park)…and then it hit, hard and fast! I’ll spare you the grisly details but let’s just say I’m not proud to admit that I failed miserably in my “Leave No Trace” practices on the dunes that day. 🤮 We thought it was just the heat so we made plans to go to a hotel that night so I could have a cool shower and recover in the air conditioning. Eight hours later, with the illness still racking my body, Mr. Trekker wisely suggested we visit the urgent care just a scant five minutes away.
I’m a fairly healthy person and I usually prefer to allow nature to take its course in these types of situations but, 1000 miles from home, in a strange place, in the middle of vacation, and facing a possible trip to the ER for treatment of dehydration, I decided to heed his astute advice.
I am happy to say the Urgent Care treated us very well–side note, whoever invented Zofran (anti-nausea med) should be Sainted! The medicine worked like a charm and rehydration/rest finally began!
We ended up spending two days at a lovely Fairfield Inn, playing several card games of War and watching COUNTLESS hours of Last Man Standing (the hotel also had a lovely patio I was able to enjoy the next day). See, even a severe stomach ailment on vacation can offer some opportunities for enjoyment (a wonderful traveling partner turned incredible nursemaid didn’t hurt either!)
We still don’t know what made me sick. The urgent care didn’t run any tests, they didn’t seem too concerned about why I was sick, they just wanted to make me better. It could have been heat exhaustion, something I ate or drank, or just the basic flu (Mr. Trekker had ingested basically the same things I had with no negative side effects).
We did drink strange water at the National Park that day that tasted TERRIBLE (due to chlorine) but it was marked for drinking. I have a sensitive stomach and heat sensitivity that I’ve noted in previous posts, but this seemed different. I’m hopeful it was just a badly-timed case of the flu–and continuing proof of our bad luck on this trip–that won’t be making a reappearance any time soon!
By that time we were ready to throw in the towel on this vacation. It just seemed that we were stymied at every turn. We did manage to stop at “The Giant Pistachio” on our way out of Alamagordo—which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a pistachio ranch with a store where you can buy various food items (including delicious green chile salsa and of course, pistachios). It also has a giant statue of a pistachio out front!
Don’t let frustrations derail your vacation plans
We drove north with plans to cancel the rest of our trip, hit I-25, and be home the next day…however, almost as soon as we left town, the terrain seemed to change. The dry, soulless scrub-land filled with nothing but dirt and cacti that we had been experiencing the last several days transformed into an area that, while still dry, also sported dark green pines, bushes, and tan prairie grass all set against a backdrop of bright red earth! This in conjunction with the sun that had finally broken through the rain clouds, and the desert mountains towering on either side of us as we traversed the valley, brightened our hopes a bit.
We had already canceled our plans in the Great Sand Dunes (see this post for info regarding our rescheduled trip there)*, but I casually suggested to my loyal driver that maybe we could still try to push for Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado…and I got a hearty, “I was just thinking the same thing!” in reply. The Adventure was back on!
*A side note, apparently the last week of May/first week of June is when the Medano Creek runs high from spring snowmelt and it’s an INCREDIBLY busy time at the park. We weren’t aware of that until we canceled the reservations but it is something to keep in mind if planning a visit.
The Flora of Northern New Mexico
This trip allowed me to verify again for myself that the desert isn’t my favorite place to visit. It’s hot…it’s dry…it’s hot…there’s pokey plants…did I mention it’s hot? 😓 I’ve discussed on several occasions that heat and I are not the best of friends, so I was looking forward to trading in the dry deserts of New Mexico for the lush forests of Colorado.
But I learned something along the way…northern New Mexico is absolutely beautiful! The mountains and plains surrounded us in a verdant spring green which contrasted with the black volcanic rocks. I assume we were lucky to be there so early in the summer season so things were still green (it also seemed that they had an unusually wet spring, who would expect to see standing water in fields in New Mexico? We had rain almost every day we were in the state!)
Capulin Volcano National Monument
Did you know there is an extinct volcano in northern New Mexico? From my extremely limited understanding of volcanology, an “extinct” volcano simply means it hasn’t erupted in a REALLY long time…but that in no way ensures another eruption isn’t possible! (For more information on this national monument, click here.)
So, we arrived at the Capulin Volcano, in northwest New Mexico, with plans to hike around it a bit before heading to Colorado for the night. FYI, the park closes at 5:00 pm promptly, even during the summer months. We learned this when we arrived at the park…just as the ranger was locking the gate. *sigh* Seriously, at this point our bad luck on this trip was becoming laughable! 😜
So instead, we took the long way back to the Interstate on back roads, enjoying the beauty and solitude of the northern New Mexican countryside on our way to the hotel in southern Colorado that night. Yes, after 1600 miles, we had finally reached the Interstate (this was by choice. We could have continued on back roads but this was actually a more direct route to our destination and we decided for that short time we wanted to get where we were going quickly).
With that, after five days of chaos, we left New Mexico behind. We do intend to return though, at least to the northern section, as I still want to investigate that volcano and there are more places (like Taos and Sante Fe) we want to explore!
The barren New Mexico countrysideThe scrubland against the mountain backdrop was beautiful!The white mirage shimmering in the distance is the sand dunes at White Sands National Park.
Have you enjoyed any of these destinations? Tell me about it in the comments!
Did you enjoy this post? Pin it!
Like what you read here today? Please feel free to leave a comment, like or share this post! Add your email at the bottom of the page, or the sidebar to the right, to be notified when a new post is published. By signing up for the email list, you will also receive a free copy of the Tranquil Trekker’s Top 10 Tips of Trekking Do’s and Don’ts!
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