COME TO LIFE / Magic Moments on Public Lands 7 Cool off in the brisk water at GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE . Each spring Medano Creek emerges from the mountains behind the dunes near Alamosa to form a gently flowing stream. Visitors cool hot feet after tromping around the dunes, build sandcastles and splash around in its rhythmic waves before it retreats back into the mountains in July. W 8 9 Feel true enchantment on the high-desert plains, where sweeping grasslands and vast blue skies point the way to JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR STATE PARK . In winter, watch thousands of snow geese migrate in formation and effortlessly glide into the water. Summer months are ideal for watching the sunrise over glistening, dew-covered plains near Las Animas. W @josh hunter 10 Commune with the subtle charms of the WEMINUCHE WILDERNESS AREA . At nearly 500,000 acres near Durango, Silverton and Pa-gosa Springs, it’s our largest wilderness area and has natural marvels that leave folks speechless. But it’s the quieter things that draw you in: Snowshoe rabbits scampering across a path. Beavers slapping tails on the water. The shaking of a tree branch when a rose finch has just departed it. Visit COLORADO.com/ Wilderness to find others. X 11 Experience the profound quiet of snowy BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK . Stewards of the park near Montrose do winter explorers a generous favor: They don’t plow one of its main roads. When the snow starts falling, South Rim Road becomes a track for snowshoers and cross-country skiers who make their way across pristine powder to a canyon overlook. X 12 Waltz among the wildflowers at LORY STATE PARK . Despite its closeness to Fort Collins, you feel like you’ve been airlifted into serenity on Lory’s 26 miles of hiking and biking trails, which meander through green valleys, scenic gulches and pine forests. Collect images of every hue from the canary-yellow blossom atop a prickly pear cactus and fiery orange blanket flower to the pale-pink gayfeather and Caribbean-sea-blue larkspur. S 42 / COLORADO.COM CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE; FLICKR/JOSH HUNTER; COLORADO PARKS & WILDLIFE; LU ANNE TYRRELL; ERIC WUNROW; MILES/ANNA ZOROMSKI. Hear the crescendo of the powerf ul triple waterfall in RIFLE FALLS STATE PARK . On a hot summer day, the mist that drifts from the exhilarating gush of water over 70-foot-high limestone cliffs and the dark caves below are a sublime natural air conditioner. These geologic attractions near Rifle draw photogra-phers, spelunkers, fishers and campers to this singular state park. It’s an under-statement to say the scene created by the waterfalls is picture perfect. T
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2018: Page 42
