Great Sand Dunes America the Beautiful Quarter

The United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters™ Program will see five new strikes in 2014, the fourth of which will be the 2014 Great Sand Dunes America the Beautiful Quarter. This strike also marks the 24th coin in the program which began in 2010 and ends in 2021 with a total of 56 quarters.

The public will probably not know the final design that will be featured on the Great Sand Dunes quarter until early in the year of their release. If, however, the Mint follows their typical procedure, design candidates for the coin should be made public sometime the preceding year so that they may be reviewed by the appropriate parties including the Citizen’s Coinage Advisory Committee, the Commission of Fine Arts, the governor of Colorado and the Secretary of the Interior.

As the fourth quarter issued in 2014, it will be preceded by three others which honor the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee, Shenandoah National Park of Virginia and Arches National Park of Utah. The final quarter of the year will honor Everglades National Park of Florida.

Great Sand Dunes National Park  in Colorado

Containing approximately 85,000 acres, Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado was designated a national park only in 2004, but had been a national monument since 1932.

The park claims the tallest sand dunes in North America with heights reaching 750 feet above the floor of the valley below. These dunes are constantly regenerating themselves through a very complex process. For example, sand is blown off of the main dune mass during windy days, but gets caught up either in the Medano Creek when it is flowing, or its creek bed when it is dry. When it is flowing, the sand is carried back to the southern edge where the creek dries up and the sand is blown back onto the main mass.

Temperature extremes are common in the park with the sand itself easily attaining 140 degrees during the hot summer day. Appropriate attire including boots or closed shoes is highly recommended for those wanting to hike.

Also included as part of the park are alpine lakes and several mountain peaks which reach heights of over 13,000 feet.