A curious chipmunk kept inspecting our site as we packed up the tent in the morning.... probably hoping for crumbs left carelessly behind. We packed up the car and drove along Medano Pass road. It wasn't necessarily a '4-wheel drive only' road, but it proved more than I cared to take my car on. So we turned around before we got stuck and parked near the beginning of it.

Making a quick getaway

Regan grabbed the sandboard and we slowly trudged our way through the sand up to the top of Star Dune, one of the highest ones. The sandy slopes were covered with all sorts of tracks. Clearly this was a busy place at night.

Our tracks now numbered among those of assorted critters.

Over 1,000 species of insects live in this ecosystem.

The Sand Dunes spider (Geolycosa) is around 3/4 inch large.

Patterns in the sand

Self portrait!

Nearing the top

The view back down