大沙丘国家公园和保护区，美国科罗拉多州 Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado (© Y Paudel/Getty Images)

大沙丘国家公园和保护区，美国科罗拉多州 Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado (© Y Paudel/Getty Images)

如沙漏中的沙子一般 Like sands through the hourglass

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Today we celebrate the birthday of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, which boasts 750-foot (and higher) sand dunes that cover more than 30 square miles. But the towering hills of sand—the tallest in North America—are just one feature of an eye-popping Colorado landscape that includes conifer forests, alpine lakes, and wetlands. The 85,000-acre park and preserve even encompasses stretches of tundra at the higher elevations, where it edges up against the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Initially proclaimed a national monument in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover, the territory was redesignated as Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve on September 13, 2004, and the size of the park was quadrupled. The park and preserve provide ample and wildly diverse activities for visitors, from sandboarding and sandsledding down the steep dunes to hiking, camping, horseback riding, and fat-tire biking.

大沙丘国家公园和保护区

今天，我们庆祝大沙丘国家公园和保护区（Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve）的生日，该保护区拥有750英尺（或更高）的沙丘，面积超过30平方英里。但北美最高的高耸沙山只是科罗拉多州令人瞠目的景观的一个特征，包括针叶林、高山湖泊和湿地。85000英亩的公园和保护区甚至包括高海拔地区的苔原，在那里，它与桑格雷德克里斯托山脉的底部相对。

1932年，赫伯特·胡佛总统首次宣布该地区为国家纪念碑，2004年9月13日，该地区被重新指定为大沙丘国家公园和保护区，公园面积增加了四倍。公园和保护区为游客提供了丰富多样的活动，从在陡峭的沙丘上划沙板和玩沙橇到徒步旅行、露营、骑马和骑自行车。