Colorado Gators Reptile Park

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We stopped off at the Colorado Gators Reptile Park on the way north.  It is an old tilapia growing facility that now mostly houses reptiles and other exotic animals.  The alligators were brought in back in the 80s to eat the leftover tilapia guts.

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It really is an integrated ecosystem in the desert.

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An interesting collection of signs out in front of the entrance.

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This place is not responsible for eaten children!

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Heather holding a corn snake!

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Petting a tortoise!

 

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A little lizard of some sort.  What a cutie!

 

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Heather being brave with a three or four foot long alligator.  Hew was really polite and let us pet him!

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Folks wrestling alligators to do medical checks.

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A gator swimming around with a bunch of tilapia.

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Gators relaxing out of the water.

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Time to pull another one in to have a medical check.

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Gator wrastling!

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Alligators can be popcicles and still come back to life.

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In the new greenhouse.  This is where the tilapia poop water gets cycled through hydroponics facilities to be cleaned.

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A tank full of tilapia.

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I imagine this is how a post-apocalyptic food source would look.

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A rescued cockatoo or parrot now lives in the greenhouse.

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This could be straight out of Mad Max.

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A BIG gator in his own pen.

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Lots of gators laying around.

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Pea green soup.

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Emus!IMG_1639

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IMG_1641Albino alligators.

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An evil caiman.

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Big fellow who used to star in movies.

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Emu eating.  What an odd place!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

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The new stove and griddle work great for making pancakes on cold mornings.

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My little tent that I have had forever.

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Looking at the sand dunes from the campground.

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The toilet is an old Rio Grande boxcar.

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Big mountains looming over the campground.

 

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The Toyota with its nice new tube bumper hanging out in the campground waiting for us to load up for the day.

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Heading back into the park.

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This picture needs more buffalo.

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The last time I was here as a kid, this was still a national monument.

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Dice and a cracked windshield.

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Dunes.

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Misty mountains.

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The turnoff to the primitive road we came over the day before.

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Big dunes are HUGE when you stand next to them.

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MASSIVE dunes.

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Little animal footprints in the sand.

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Beetle tracks!

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Wind prints from the grass whipping back and forth.

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We didn’t make it to the top of the first ridge.  The sand got too hot for our feet.

 

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Heather already came down while I was trying to tough it out in the hot sand a bit longer.

 

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The sand made an odd rumbling noise as I walked down it.

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Who needs doors on their truck anyway?

 

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Airing up the tires after playing in the sand.

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Heading away from the dunes.

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Wherever you are is the right place to be.

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Dunes.  Dunes everywhere.

 

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One last look back east toward the dunes as we head north toward alligators.

Medano Pass to the Great Sand Dunes

 

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On a lovely early September day, we took Medano Pass heading west and south into the back and more remote side of Great Sand Dunes National Park.

 

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The meadows and mountains were absolutely spectacular along this route.

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The aspens were juuuuuust starting to have their leaves fade toward gold.  Fall is approaching quickly in the high country of Colorado.

 

 

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The sand makes the driving more smooth than most mountain pass 4×4 roads in Colorado.

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A classic “Don’t be an idiot in the park” sign warning drivers to go slowly through creek crossings.

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Through magical, enchanted woods.

 

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Heading into the first creek crossing.  The water levels were low enough to not give us any concern.

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The afternoon sun made the understory stunning.

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Into the fire scar area.

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Big burn scars in this part of the park.

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Having fun in a creek crossing.

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Entering the national park proper.

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The sand is getting deeper and looser.

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Big dunes on the horizon.

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Another “Don’t be an idiot in the park” sign.

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Mountains of sand.

 

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Going through the last portion of the 4×4 trail, we encountered a Subaru WRX wallowed deep in the sand.  It was too deep for us to extract so we went on to the pavement and found a park ranger.  The park was going to send a truck out to extract the wayward Subaru.  The stuck WRX was past the “Point of No Return” meaning that they could suffer a large fine for not being able to self-extract.