A Family Adventure

Fill your day with adventure at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, just a quick drive from Walsenburg. After dinner, cool down under the stars on La Veta Pass.

Activity #1 – Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Pack a lunch and spend the day at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. This fragile and complex ecosystem, which receives roughly 300,000 visitors annually, is an outdoor playground unlike any other. Hiking is the most popular activity at the park, and some visitors take the six-mile hike and summit the park’s tallest dune, Star Dune, for spectacular views of the park. Aside from hiking the dunes, visitors also surf them on a sand sled or a sandboard, both available for rent at Great Sand Dunes Oasis just outside the park entrance.

DINNER: Corine’s Mexican Restaurant

Activity #2 – Stargazing at La Veta Pass

La Veta Pass (more properly known as North La Veta Pass) bridges the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between the eastern plains and the San Luis Valley at an elevation of 9,413 feet. It lies 1.6 miles northeast of Old La Veta pass and is now accessed via Highway 160.

La Veta Pass offers some of the best stargazing in the county. From here, you can also access the Uptop Historic District, a restored property once home to the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Depot, horse-drawn sawmills, and a tavern.