We reached Bruneau Dunes State Park before 3 pm. The road out from Glenns Ferry makes you feel as if you might have missed the turn-off but it’s well marked and we got there without a hitch. The folks in the campsite next to us had 3 kids—2 high school age and one middle school age—and the whole family was out playing catch with a football.
The park was nearly full since this is a holiday weekend—Columbus Day is Sunday. I have no idea how they all got here by 4:00 pm their time but hey it’s a great place for kids. Not only are there the sand dunes to play on (the folks next door have a snow disc with them) but there’s also an observatory that has open house and telescope viewing on Friday and Saturday night.
We took a nap and then took a walk up the nature trail towards the sand dunes. It was basically flat with signs about local fauna and the dunes. We ended up at the picnic area next to the observatory.
There was a crowd of folks (teenagers?) on the top of the smallest dune and they races down screaming all the way. There was a couple and their dog on the top of the ‘small dune’ and there were people climbing to the top of the ‘big dune’ which is 400 feet tall.
After reading a sign I realized that there was a little lake past the observatory and things looked still enough that it might make for good reflection photos. So I hiked down through the sprinklers to the lake. They were trying to make the grass into a new lake so my socks got wet since I was wearing my sandals. But I got some great photos of the hills and the dunes reflected in the lake so it was worth it.
And this great panorama shot too.
Even more fun, I got Walter to stand still and hold my hand so I could take a photo of our very long shadows on the road as we walked.
We walked back on the road so we got to see the other campground (equally full) and Walter noticed an antenna on the roof of one of the buildings. We came back and sure enough there is WiFi here. We paid $3 for a day of WiFi and checked our mail and various things on the internet.
The sky began to color up at sunset and I set out to take a few photos.
It got pretty good by the time I'd walked back out beyond the other campground loop.
We’ve read about John Day Fossil beds and checked the weather. There may be showers but hopefully it won’t be bad on Sunday. Monday is supposed to be cool and clear so at least the day we go on the fossil hike it will be nice.
We both can see home off in the distance and are looking forward to getting there.