"Totally Unique and Unexpected"

"Totally Unique and Unexpected" (HM1CIB)

Location: Londonderry, CO 81146 Alamosa County
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Country: United States of America
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N 37° 41.753', W 105° 32.758'

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Park Visitor

Welcome to the high elevation desert that is Great Sand Dunes! Does this landscape strike you as amazing, bizarre or totally out of place. If so, you're not alone. For many, the unexpected combination of massive dunes surrounded by alpine peaks and a desert valley inspires awe and curiosity.

The 30 square mile dunefield before you is the most impressive part of an enormous deposit of sand stretching west, south, and north. The San Juan Mountains on the far western horizon contributed most of the sand, which was washed by mountain streams into the San Luis Valley. From there, southwesterly winds blew, bounced and pushed the grains toward the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, piling them into the tallest dunes in North America.

The Great Sand Dunes System consists of:

Sabkha:
A region where sand is cemented by evaporate salts from seasonal wetlands.
Sand Sheet: A large area of grasslands and small migrating dunes; about 53% of the sand deposit.
Main Dunefield: Thirty square miles of massive dunes.
Mountain Watershed: The source of water for the creeks that flow around the dunes.
Details
HM NumberHM1CIB
Tags
Placed ByNational Park Service-United States Department of the Interior
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Wednesday, September 10th, 2014 at 9:41am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)13S E 451868 N 4172213
Decimal Degrees37.69588333, -105.54596667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 37° 41.753', W 105° 32.758'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds37° 41' 45.18" N, 105° 32' 45.48" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)719
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 9 Unnamed Road, Londonderry CO 81146, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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