In August 2009 we made a trip to the Great Sand Dunes in the southern part of the state in the San Luis Valley.

The scouts played at the sand dunes, cooked their own meals, some scouts went on a Nature Hike, some scouts visited Colorado Gators – an Alligator and Fish Farm where the alligators are fed the non edible portions of Tilapia that are raised for sale to restaurants (the geothermal well which is the source for their holding ponds is ideal for this warm water fish) and the scouts attended a talk in the amphitheater that included details about bobcats, lynxes, and mountain lions.  The scouts also learned that the volcano in that area (the La Garita Caldera) was the largest in the world and collapsed in on itself. The area was also home to a shallow lake, named Lake Alamosa,  the was the size of one of the Great Lakes.  Sand flows down with the water from the mountains in the Medano and Sand Creeks during the spring thaw and then the strong winds blow the sand back up to the dunes. The National Park Service has a great web page on How The Great Sand Dunes Were Formed.