Memorial Day Climbing

It's been several years since we last spent the long Memorial Day weekend together. But the end of May arrived with no graduations or other family functions to attend, so an outdoor adventure was clearly in order. Jo-Ro-Roommate had the weekend off too and came along for the ride. First stop, Shelf Road, for some climbing and camping with a big group of outdoor lovin' folk at Cheesehead Ranch.

We of course left our guidebook at home, so we were at the mercy of our climbing companions to direct us to some climbs easy enough for those of us coming out of hibernation. So while we can't really tell you any of the climbs we attempted, we did remember to bring a camera, so hey look! Pictures!

Two days of climbing was just enough for our sore limbs, so we packed up Monday and headed down to the Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa, CO, hoping to spend another night camping and exploring this rather strange geological anomaly. As we got close, however, all we could see what a giant dust cloud shrouding the entire park. Upon entering, we learned that the wind was gusting at 50 miles per hour. The wind swirling through the park made the idea of hiking and camping in a sandstorm about as appealing as it sounds. So we spent about 10 minutes running across the dunes and taking pictures before calling it quits and driving back to Fort Collins.