Colorado’s Great Sand Dune National Park offers fun for the whole family and plenty to explore. From hiking the dunes to driving the 4×4 trail or merely playing in the sand and seasonal stream.
Great Sand Dune National Park
Driving into southern Colorado the mountains start peaking up from time to time letting you know you’re in the Rockies. As you pass through the valleys, you enter into a vast valley that was once a glacial lake, and it’s here where out in the distance you start seeing some fuzzy hills that slowly open up to show themselves as the great sand dunes. By a miracle of nature, the dunes formed from natural causes and winds.
The welcome center is right in the foothills. Stop in, check out the displays and the gift shop and top off water or use the clean restrooms before heading up the dunes.
Once you park and head to cross the creek – whether its dry or flowing you immediately enter the dune field. The first hike to the foothills I would recommend you have shoes on as the sand is rocky and rough. Once you get to the dunes, if it’s not too hot you can remove your shoes.
Climbing the sand can be somewhat tricky – it’s a bit of the hike to some of the nearby tall dunes but undoubtedly worth it to get a view. Running or sledding down the dunes is fun
What to bring to the park
If you’re here for a day-trip, Bring plenty of water for each person in your group. I recommended a swimsuit if you want to splash around before dry season (mid-June).
- Sunscreen
- Hat
- Sunglasses
- Comfy shoes for sand (I used Keens)
When to visit Great Sand Dune National Park
We completley lucked out with our trip to the Dunes. There was a light rain storm the night before which kept the sand firm and packed and kept the water flowing in the seasonal stream up front. This was Mid June – a time when things usually dry up out there.
Show up early – the morning dew or morning rains make getting up the dunes much easier!
Great Sand Dune Activities
Hiking
Horseback riding
There are some trails setup for horseback riding. I didn’t not have the pleasure of experiencing the trails by horseback however you can read about them on the NPS website.
Camping
Camping is available on the park
Sand-boarding
Sand-boarding is a popular activity on the dunes. Unlike Sand Sledding that we did at White Sands National Monument they don’t recommend disk sledding here since the sand has a different texture. There is a Sand-Board rental shop just a few miles before the park entrace where you can rent a board that looks more like a snow-board.
Off-roading
The 4×4 trail was closed at the time of our visit as their was an active reovery incident going on where a vehicle had been stuck. If you plan on off-roading here I would call the ranger station in advance to check on weather/conditions.
No motorized vehicles are allowed on dunes.
Day Trips around the Park
There is a really good brew-pub in town that is definitely worth a visit. Good food and good drinks, I enjoyed my IPA and burger.
We camped at the Alamosa KOA Camp Ground. The staff is super friendly and camp was nice. Kids got to cool off in the pool, eat free popcorn.
If you visit the park and continue north (which I highly recommend) there are some kitchy Alien roadside attractions that may be worth stopping at.
Getting to Great Sand Dunes National Park
Great Sand Dune National Park Photo Gallery
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Hey, cool blog post!
If I’ve got the timings right, I think we were on the Medano Pass Primitive Road when it was closed while you were there (end of July). We weren’t stuck, but the trail had completely washed out and we couldn’t go any further! A flash flood came through and caused huge destruction to the trail – the Chief Ranger said it was the worst trail damage he’d ever seen there. One of the Ranger’s trucks (a Ford Raptor) did get stuck, and the excavator broke the tow strap trying to pull them out. We left our truck on the trail overnight and had to come back for it the next day. I think the trail was closed for about 3 weeks after that.
If you want to see what the trail looked like, take a look at our Instagram (@AdventurousWay) photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0TDsVlBENB/