A few days ago we arrived at Great Sand Dunes National Park. Once we set up at the campsite, we rested after the grueling 9-hour drive. The next morning we rented some sand boards and toboggans to ride the dunes. We decided to start by going down small dunes AKA: bunny hills. All of us rode down the hills to get the hang of it. Dad and I visited last year so we had an idea of what we needed to do. Later, I took the toboggan up to a more steep area I named Suicide Hill. We spent some time going down the hills but had to head back to the trailer because of lightening. That afternoon we went to the Visitor’s Center to check it out.
The next day we decided to move up to Cardigan Tunnel which is an extremely long and steep run down a huge sand dune. We took turns going down and soon it was Sam’s turn to go. She bent down, started sliding and flew down the mountain passing me with tremendous speed. All the sudden she caught a corner and epic proportions of sand were kicked up into the air. The sand cleared and we saw that she had slid and fell before coming to complete stop. She was on her stomach, but ok. Soon after, we saw rain coming, so we decided to head for the trailer. We spent the rest of the day in the trailer napping, playing cards and hanging out.
On the third day, me and my dad decided to sand board from the top of the dunes. Once we hiked to the top, we could see the entire other side of the dunes! It is as if an alien world had opened consisting of sand dunes, an unnatural landscape. We decided to go down the tallest and steepest mountain in the park called Reapers Cliff. My dad went first. He thought it was super-fast and fun and slightly dangerous. It was my turn next. As I went down on the toboggan, I felt myself speeding up rapidly…10mph, 15mph, 25mph, 30, 35! I felt my eyes dry up from the amount of wind blowing on me and my hair was blowing backwards! I started to feel myself start to faint as I tried to convince myself I couldn’t possibly be moving this fast. My hands dug into sand behind me in order to balance myself. I knew that if I lost my balance the next thing I’d see would be the inside of a hospital room. After a long haul, I reached the bottom and tried to catch my breath. A few seconds later, I found myself back in the alien dune world. I sat there on the toboggan at the bottom of the hill for a while after that contemplating my life. Soon, while still on the highest dune in the park, a massive thunderstorm moved in. It was bad. My dad and I sand boarded down the mountain carving the sand dunes and trying to race the storm. We made our way down the hills and started sprinting to our campsite. The rain was pouring on us and we were completely soaked! We jumped into the truck, and we were safe. Right away, we drove to return the sand boards. What a day!
THE RESULTS ARE IN, AND GREAT SAND DUNES SCORED A 9.5/10 AND THE FIRST EVER “S” TIER RANKING FOR Simply the Best.
You have such a great imagination, Eli. You would be great at being an adventures writer!