Adventures with Cori

My awesome and amazing friend of nearly 10 years (and roommate for 4 years) Cori decided to visit me on the 4th of July. I was so excited to see her and honored that she’d endure the 10 hour round trip just for me. Upon her arrival, during our lunch at Subway, we made our plan of attack for her visit.

Our first stop was Zapata Falls. The promise of getting to play in a waterfall was too much for Cori to pass up, and I was itching to go back and visit in Chacos so that I could actually get my feet in the water. We figured that being that it was a holiday, the falls would either be abandoned or packed. Unfortunately, the latter was true. It was a cluster you-know-what, with families, groups of teenagers, and even a huge Boy Scout troop hiking the half mile and mingling in the misty cavern waiting for their opportunity to get their picture taken next to the falls.

The large group of people joining us at the falls

I was so happy that I had worn my Chacos. I was able to wade through the river with the Chacos on and not have to worry about my feet getting hurt by rocks. Cori wore flip flops which she took off. At one point, she asked me to take a picture of her. I stood on a rock as Cori gingerly picked her way across the stream. As I waited for Cori to get into position, I noticed small girl desperately chased her wayward flip flop downstream. I laughed. It was one of those few moments where I actually liked that there were strangers present on the adventure. Overall, it was much better than my first time there, partly due to the company of my awesome friend, and partly because I didn’t fall in or lose any water bottles.

After the falls, Cori and I decided to go to the Sand Dunes. Unfortunately there was a storm hanging out over the dunes, which made us a little nervous about lightning. We decided to hang out at the Visitor’s Center for a little while to see if the storm would blow over. At the Visitor’s Center, I learned some fun facts, such as one of the biggest caldera’s in the world is in Southern Colorado. Science!

Cori is very excited

The storm blew over, so Cori and I headed to the dunes. One of the first things Cori did was take off her flip flops. I decided to follow suit. The damp, cold sand felt wonderful on our feet. It was great. It was actually much easier to walk on the sand with toes free to grip with. We trekked across the creek bed and up the dunes.

We decided not to try High Dune, and instead started up to the left of it. We stopped frequently to admire the view and to take rest breaks. After a Peanut Passion Picnic (PPP) we looked up and realized that we were actually quite close to the top of High Dune. We decided then that we had to go for it. It would only take us a few minutes.

It is amazing how fast you can get really really high!

Cori is excited for our PPP!

PPP!!!

Tiny people

Sunset

Well it took more than a few minutes to reach the top. The higher we got, the steeper we got. It was amazing and really really hard. After much longer than anticipated, we reached the summit of High Dune. The only other people up there were a German couple who were sitting off to one side. Cori and I took the requisite summit pictures and then sat to enjoy the view for a while.

It was really tiring!

The stick marking the top!

The view!

I made it!

Cori decided it was a good time to roll down the hill. She did, and I took a video. She clambered back up and insisted that I take a turn. I hate being dirty, but my feet were already extremely nasty from our barefoot hike and my pants were full of sand, so I decided to go for it. I didn’t expect how quickly I’d pick up speed. Sand whipped my face and I shut my eyes tightly while rolling. Getting nervous, I stopped fairly quickly and laughing, climbed back up the hill.

A short time later, a woman in shorts with trekking poles came hiking swiftly up the dune. She was very excited to reach the top, and took a bejeweled iPhone out of a baggie in her pocket and asked us to take a lot of pictures of her. We got to talking and found out her name was Sylvia. She was a French Canadian who was taking time off from owning her own work out facility and touring national parks in America. She had already been to quite a few, including the Grand Canyon. I took a picture with her and then Cori and I started down.

Me and our new friend Sylvia

Being as it had just rained, Cori and I had lugged my snow skate up the dunes. It was ineffective to ride while standing, but Cori discovered that on the firm sand, sitting on it proved to be the ticket to an awesome ride. We took turns sledding on the trip down whenever we came across areas of hard packed sand.

Our hike down took a long time, and although we had left Sylvia behind on the summit, she got down less than five minutes after we did. Cori and I brushed the sand off of us as best we could and headed home.