Medano pass

[open_circuit]

I'm about 15 miles directly north of you, on Sheridan as well. My wife says there is a pie shop run by Amish or Mennonites that she used to visit as a kid in Westcliffe when on vacation in the area. That might be a good meeting place if we want to meet near the trail head.

Jim is in Fort Collins, and usually avoids highway routes.

[Mobyjeep]

That sounds good Do we know the name of the shop? Looks like there are quite a few in Westcliffe. What time works for you guys?

[open_circuit]

Sugar and Spice Bakery. Yelp reviewers indicate this business only accepts cash and check for payment. Since that isn't normal these days, I thought I should point that out.

[open_circuit]

Mobyjeep previously posted:

[Jim]

I'm sitting back through much of this but it'd be nice to not be on the road at 5am.

[open_circuit]

I called the Sand Dunes NP line today and spoke with someone about the road and camping. They confirmed the marked camp sites (29 of them?) outside of the park along the road are open. I was also told that about half of the calls this week have been about camping in that area because camping within park boundaries is currently not allowed. I was told to expect the trail and camping to be busy. I take this to mean we need to claim a camp site fairly early, though I don't really know what "early" is in this case.

I suppose if we don't find any camping on the road, it would be useful to have a fallback location. Worst case, I'll run the trail and then make a very late drive back home. I do not prefer this option.

[Jim]

Are hotels open (vs. late nite return - or drive to other dispersed camping)?

[Brian]

The turn off for Blanca Peak is dispersed camping and not too far from the dunes. It's where I camped the night before I ran Blanca last year.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/BL...4d-105.6019773

[open_circuit]

I'm sure I can find a hotel in the area. I'd like to explore other dispersed campomg nearby as a backup. I'll have to hit Google after dinner. Hoping that camping on medano pass road works as planned

[Jim]

Google maps 80525 to Westcliffe says 205 miles / 3h25m - so I'd schedule a realistic 4 hours for a drive (I thought it'd be a bit more).

[open_circuit]

We can try to meet earlier if everyone wants to. Didn't want to try to push the schedule too early or too late before we all have a chance to really think about and discuss it. Hoping Mobyjeep pops back in sometime this weekend.

[open_circuit]

Brian previously posted:

[Brian]

I've not been to this campground, but it's closer to the dunes.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Za...4d-105.5602241

[open_circuit]

I started looking closely at the route and maps to try to understand camping. This is a complicated trail because it seems to pass through at least 3 separately governed areas, as best I can tell. It appears we enter San Isabel National Forest from 559, and remain in the forest as we ascend the pass. There are six designated dispersed camping sites on this side of the pass.

At or near the top of the pass, we seem to enter the Great Sand Dunes National Preserve. According to https://www.4x4explore.com/rds/m_rds/medano_ps.html , there are 21 marked sites with bear boxes in the national preserve. I believe these to be open, and are listed on the national parks Medano Pass information page https://www.nps.gov/grsa/planyourvis...-pass-road.htm. The first link indicates black bear encounters are common in this area, and the use of the provided bear boxes is high encouraged. I have not found information about bear boxes being present at the first 6 campsites outside the preserve. The marked (numbered) campsites appear to be detailed at the following page https://freecampsites.net/#!7713&query=sitedetails

Further on, I guess we enter the National Park (or is this part of the national perserve?). The park services told me there is no camping within the park. I take this to mean the national preserve spots are not within the national park, and are open, based on the information here https://www.nps.gov/grsa/learn/news/...ins-june-3.htm

[Jim]

Is it a thought to drive in and if there's available camping mid-trail, then camp and finish the trail the next day?

How many overnights are folks thinking of?

[open_circuit]

I understood the trip to be drive in on Saturday and camp at one of the sites I detailed above (probably one of the 21 sites within the National Preserve). This is actually very close to the National Park boundary (within 6 miles, I think). The next morning, proceed to the park, spend some time at the dunes and / or hikes in the park, then continue home (after lunch?).

I only intend to spend one night out on the trip. I'd like to get confirmation on what MobyJeep was planning if what I've stated is not their intent.

[Jim]

So you're thinking of asphalt back from dunes to home? What would the thought of trail back be like? hitting mapping now to check times...

[Getaklu]

Would be a nice several day trip to include Blanca peak, Bonanza area, BV (Chinaman Gulch, Mt. Antero, etc), Breck/Montezuma, home. Lots to do in a loop that direction.

[open_circuit]

The last time I was here, I took the scenic route home via 285. This took us ~4 hours. If I were to leave the sand dunes after lunch, I can't imagine having time to run several hours of trail and still make the drive home in the same day. If it were open, I'd suggest stopping in Buena Vista at the Deerhammer distillery on the way home for a tour and some damn fine whiskey, but they have suspended tours indefinitely due to COVID-19.

We could also run Medano pass in reverse to exit the park, and return home the same route. It'd be a long day, and my daughter may prefer I let her spend some extra time at the dunes instead of a trail run on the homeward-bound day.

[Jim]

Getaklu previously posted: