Ouray

The next day we went on to Ouray, a town in a beautiful valley.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

The Black Canyon itself is spectacular. Unfortunately there was substantial cloud cover much of the time, but I was still able to get a couple of shots that give an idea of the grandeur of the setting. Here's one looking into the canyon.

This shot is of Painted Wall, Colorado's tallest wall with a height of 2,250 feet. You can't get an idea of its size from this picture, but believe me, it's an impressive cliff!

Road To Black Canyon

After the Dunes we drove to the Black of the Gunnison. On the way we stopped by this pretty little mountain stream.

Along the road we saw this thunderstorm formation ahead of us - the classic anvil shape is very obvious here.

Great Sand Dunes At Sunset

Finally, just before dusk, the weather broke and we saw the dunes the way they should be seen, with the beautiful light and dark contrasts of a low-hanging sun.

Great Sand Dunes

Thanks to those who have commented, I'm glad that people are enjoying my pictures.

When we got to the dunes it was mostly cloudy, but the sheer size of them still stood out. The highest are over 700 feet tall, making them the biggest on the continent. It's strange and amazing to see dunes right after a rainstorm, with water running through a creek next to them.

Wildfire And Road To Great Sand Dunes

I spent a few days in the middle of Colorado with family members, and I'll post some pictures from this trip over the next couple of weeks. First we went to the Great Sand Dunes. On the road to the Dunes we were fairly close to a wildfire (which was controlled rather quickly), and saw some spectacular clouds and sun.

Local Sunset

Here's one of our fiery sunsets from a couple of weeks ago.