Around the SLV with Crites and Main

Friends among the dunes

The San Luis Valley often serves as a springboard for adventures west and south. It can be hard to ignore that roadside marker touting “Taos 78.” The New Mexico mountain destination seems so much farther from the SLV, but the marker doesn’t lie. 

When I land in the San Luis Valley, I don’t often feel the need to go further. It’s the maximum length for a day trip (2-3 hours drive each way) and feels worlds away from the Denver, the Springs and the Front Range. A dustiness hangs in the air. Tumbleweeds zip across the road. The wide valley sits at high elevation (7,500 feet and above) – in summer, that’s a blessing, as the nights cool off considerably. 

My friends Crites and Main gave me the choice for where to spend my 44th birthday. It was not a hard choice at all. We crossed the thin ribbon of the Rio Grande and entered Alamosa, commercial heart of the San Luis Valley and a western town built to accommodate the railroad. Traffic splits with into east-west one-way streets. 

For our visit, I planned a mini brewery tour. It isn’t hard in Alamosa – two of the three breweries sit on the same block of Main Street. We started at Square Peg Brewerks, quaffing a few beers on the socially distance patio where we could watch lines of traffic heading west roll by. On other days I too I have driven through Alamosa a little too fast, not giving the town its proper due. 

San Luis Valley Brewery operates a brewpub and a coffee-roasting operation. It’s a center of activity in the valley’s largest town. We had several good pours here. The fine Hatch chile lager they make can home with us, as its flavor profile exceeded most chile beers we tasted. The last stop had to wait till 5, when the Colorado Farm Brewery opens. 

To bide the time, we had a big Mexican meal at Calvillo’s, which has a mid-20th-century façade and a modern interior. A painting on the wall of an Indian warrior carrying a maiden in distress became a surprise hallmark of the trip.

At 5 p.m., the Colorado Farm Brewery called and we answered. As in previous visits, it easily outdid its valley-mates by supplying a number of unexpected standard beer styles with strong local ingredients. We left with several bottles for later drinking, including a Wild Ale that I initially thought was a Mild Ale – not a big deal, as the beer still proved an excellent pour later in the trip. 

We all agreed CFB was the day’s winner, due to its setting and the high quality of its session beers. It lives up to its billing out in the open expanses of the valley, a little oasis for beer lovers. 

"Hola, my good friend..."

To ensure we could experience the Great Sand Dunes in the morning without an early car ride, I booked a rustic cabin at the KOA nearest the dunes. I wanted to wake up in the valley, see the sun over Blanca Peak in the morning. My friends might never have seen this valley in the first place, and I wanted them to have a good experience out there. The cabin seemed a good alternative to crashing at a hotel – we could hang out on the cabin porch and enjoy the outdoors with a few more celebratory brews. 

We bought some firewood. After fighting with a few initial pieces that smoked heavily, we gathered enough kindling to keep the fire moving throughout the evening. Once again, we had a good hangout spot all to ourselves, even with tents, RVs and other cabins in close proximity. The noise did not carry, and we didn’t mind, especially as we laughed to the lyrics of Ween’s “Buenos tardes, amigo.” 

After dark, the wildfire smoke pushed out and the coals of our fire heated up. We wandered the campground beyond the lights of the trailers and found ourselves under a clear night of Milky Way and satellites racing horizon to horizon. 

We opened the windows earlier and the cabin cooled off immensely. The valley has some serious temperature swings, where 80-degree afternoons can lead into 40-degree nights. I counted on that, and it worked out wonderfully. 

The smoke cleared a little and we headed out onto the road that ends at the Great Sand Dunes. They loomed larger as we approached. The rains that hit the Front Range all summer also came to the SLV, as massive bloom of sunflowers lined the park road. 

 The park was not crowded yet, and we geared up for a good hike. The shifting sands always provided that much. The park hugged the northeast corner of the SLV, as the dunes were built from grains of weathered rock off the peaks on the valley’s west side, piling up into the dune field over millennia. 

For the full Great Sand Dunes experience, we lucked out. Medano Creek still flowed at the base of the dunes. I hoped but not expected some water to greet us. It was not the surging creek of May, but it was not the dry flats of drought years. 

We headed into the sandy hills, lurching step after step in the sand.We neared the top of the initial dune set, but I knew it was a false sensation - the top only presents row after row of unconquered dune.

I took a break and let the guys hike on. Having a moment to catch my breath, as it was not coming easy. The collapsing footholds of the dunes contributed to that. Sometimes one can catch some sturdy ground, but it frequently becomes a slog the further up the dunes one progresses. \

So I relaxed. Eventually I turned around, and there they were, following the thin ridge of sand into the dune field. These dots moving in the dunes were familiar, and spoke with voices I knew. I turned the camera around, and captured my good friends against the swirled mounds.