Since my other blog is working and I'm trying to scan some of my old slides in before they all loose their color, I'll use this blog for showing some of those slides.
I've been looking for slides of the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. We visited there in early Spring, 1991. Many of the slides I took up on the dunes I've used in Slide Study Groups, and they unfortunately got separated and I haven't found them yet. Here's five that show it pretty well.
This is the way they look from a distance as you approach the dunes, with the mountain range in the back.
This is a little closer, but still a couple miles away.
This is a sign explaining about the creek and how it flows, especially in the Spring (it was when we were there). Unfortunately the slides all are loosing their color. I had to correct this one considerably to get it readable.
This is looking across the creek to the sand dunes. There's two black specks on the left–people just getting ready to climb. The distances there are very deceiving.
Here we're on our way back from the dunes. Shot taken by my wife, of Larry (Brother-In-law) and I. The water was freezing cold, and not very deep. But you can see how fast the current was. I decided to just walk with my boots on. Didn't even get my feet wet. When Larry was in above his ankles, I just jumped over that area. It was a wonderful day, and we were all tired (the gals didn't do any hiking though).
Wow, I'm really glad you dug through your boxes to find these. The second one leaves a strong impression on me, but I really like the last one as well. I can't begin to imagine why there would be an icy cold current close to desertic dunes o_O
Thanks for checking my blog, frugale.
One big reason–spring melt and run off from the snow on the surrounding mountains. The other is that we always think of deserts and dunes as being hot. The definition of a desert rests on the amount of rainfall the area receives and not it's temperature. It was really rather cool there in June. And, because of the elevation it probably doesn't get very hot, even in mid-summer.
P.S. Notice what I have on my shoulder. 🙂
CAMERA !!! :D:D:p
Did anything at all grow near the stream? Was the stream only seasonal, i.e. only appears in the summer for example?
I know that temperatures drop down dramatically at night, even in 'hot' deserts. But it's still weird for me to imagine a cold desert at daytime :sherlock:
It's ironic that we're talking about dryness, because right now the weather in Montreal is record high, record humid. My forehead is actually dripping as we talk. Erm, write.
Many parts of Western US (and Canada) are really deserts. People make them into tropics by watering.
Yes, we have near record highs in Michigan also, and very humid.
The part of the Medano Creek that we saw had no vegetation along it, and I think it runs all year–just a little less in the later summer and fall.
Yes, but what is that camera attached to? With the age of image stabilization and technology we've gotten too complacent about using a tripod, but it still helps very much–especially if you want sharp photos in poorer light conditions.
Yes, it would be a shame to bring a camera along but not be able to use it due to poor light conditions! So I understand why you willingly burdened yourself with both tripod and camera.
I've been to the Okanagan Valley in interior BC, yes indeed it's now a luxurious green valley but if it weren't for all the watering as you say it would still be the no man's land cowboys first encountered a hundred years ago – and what natives had been inhabiting for millenia before that!