Mount Herard and Great Sand Dunes Postcard

Medano Creek flows along the Great Sand Dunes from the Sangre De Cristo mountains, with Mount Herard in the center. The Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado contains the tallest sand dunes in North America, rising about 750 feet (230 m) from the floor of the San Luis Valley on the western base of the Sangre de Cristo Range, covering about 19,000 acres. Researchers say that the dunes started forming less than 440,000 years ago. Medano Creek flows in the spring and early summer. Originally called Medano Peak, Mount Herard, which has seven separate summits, was renamed Mount Seven at the request of the Colorado Mountain Club in 1970. In 1984 the mountain's name was changed to honor Ulysses Herard who homesteaded on its slopes in 1876.