As you may know, Blue Cat is getting more and more into Camping. Yes, Camping with a capital “C” since it’s that big a deal. And there are so many places to go.
Blue Cat’s latest Camping trip was to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. He’d been there once before in the late fall, when it was colder than cold but there were no clouds and some really great star gazing. But one of the main features of the Park is Medano Creek, which runs between the main dunes and the campsites. Medano Creek doesn’t flow year round, so you need to be there in the late Spring or early Summer in order to experience it.
Blue Cat got there later in the season (and it has been relatively dry this year), so he couldn’t go skim boarding on the creek (it wasn’t deep enough). But he could experience the other feature of the creek – it surges on a continuing basis, creating waves of water that are fun to watch. And standing in the creek is a bit like standing on an ocean beach as the water moves in and out.
Here’s a video of the creek when Blue Cat was there – the canine is Blue Cat’s new dog-friend Jasper, who is experiencing a creek for the first time (hence the hesitancy). (Don’t worry – the next day Jasper went to the creek and jumped in the deepest parts by himself.)
This time Camping Blue Cat also got to experience something new – a lecture by the park staff. The topic for that evening was how NASA used National Parks to get support space missions. Did you know that the Apollo astronauts learned about geology at the Grand Canyon? Or that the dunes are similar to the dunes on Mars and help with designing rovers for exploring the planet?
Blue Cat’s Camping trip was a big success – interesting things to do, a lot of relaxation, and some really good camp food. (Blue Cat discovered that the camp store sells local organic sausages – very tasty cooked over a campfire for breakfast.) Here are some other pictures from the trip:
So, what’s your favorite national park? Let Blue Cat know in the comments below.
(C) William P Doyle, Jr 2021
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