Mount Herard, Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO Postcard

"Mount Herard, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado" by Catherine Sherman. Majestic Mount Herard's seven summits tower over the massive sand dunes of Great Sand Dunes Natural Park and Preserve under a bright blue sky with clouds. Trees dot the grassy plains in the foreground, highlighting the natural beauty of this diverse environment in southern Colorado. Mount Herard is a high and prominent mountain summit in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 13,345-foot (4,068 meter) thirteener is located in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness of Great Sand Dunes National Preserve. Originally called Medano Peak, the mountain with seven separate summits was renamed Mount Seven at the request of the Colorado Mountain Club in 1970.[3] In 1984 the mountain's name was changed to honor Ulysses Herard who homesteaded on its slopes in 1876. The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve 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.