BACKPACKING IN THE GREAT SAND DUNES | SAN LUIS VALLEY, COLORADO
Strangers on a foreign planet - this is the best way to describe the feeling of backpacking in the Great Sand Dunes. A prolonged gaze at the West renders the illusion that the dunes continue inevitably. Due North, the Sangre De Cristo Mountains loom like quiet giants monitoring the rolling sands below. During one stretch, we walked for an hour and only saw our own footprints. When we'd stop to lay and rest on our packs, we heard only the sound of our breath and the occasional breeze. Though we knew others were out here, we willfully deluded ourselves into thinking we were alone, the only beings in this distant world, wandering blissfully in the solitude and the beauty.
Of course, that's a bit of an idealization. It was certainly isolated and beautiful, but Bri and I both admitted that we felt a bit lonely as we trudged through the sand in the early afternoon. It was a bit like detoxing - though I longed for respite from the speed and intensity of the "real world", the extreme change in the sheer volume of noise and clutter was bit unpleasant at first.
But as we wandered further into the abyss, we began to feel more at home. It's not uncommon for me to feel this change when I enter the wilderness. In the beginning, there's subtle sense of resistance - a feeling that I need to in some way retreat back to the "productiveness" of daily life, to think about the things that need to be done, the problems to be resolved, the projects that need to be finished. But pressing on despite these thoughts is like a form of meditation, recognizing that the most productive thing I can do in this moment is simply exisit. And if you trek far enough into the Dunes, cut off and isolated from the rest of the civilized world, you'll find existence in it's most pure and natural form. It's nearly impossible not to become intertwined with this raw simplicity.
Though we enjoyed the peace of exploring the dunes and scoping out potential campsites, we were super stoked to capture the landscape through our lenses during the "golden hour" (the period just before sunset, when the light is a bit softer). And folks, the Dunes did not disappoint. We took literally hundreds of pictures, struggling to find a vantage point that didn't produce some form of unique beauty. We couldn't stop talking about how amazing it would be to shoot a session with a rad couple in this wide open space.
So, on that note...if you're thinking about an elopement or an engagement session in a unique and beautiful piece of wilderness - we cannot recommend the Great Sand Dunes enough!
