This is truly one place you have to see to believe!
As a photographer I'm probably not supposed to say this, but pictures just don't do Great Sand Dunes National Park justice. As you're pulling into the park it looks otherworldly - piles of sand nearly as tall as the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in the background.
Even as you are standing at the foot of the dunes they look like a tough, but fairly quick hike to the top. Once you've crossed the water though, & are nothing more than a speck in the hills of sand, you realize how amazingly vast they really are. In the photo above on the right, that black dot in the sand is two people walking!
a couple trekking across the Dunes - really gives you some perspective!