Great Sand Dunes is home to the tallest sand dunes in North America, some reaching a height of almost 750 feet. The sand dunes are located in the San Luis Valley next to Sangre de Crisco Mountains. Sediment from that mountain range and the San Juan Mountain range, a few miles west, filled the valley. Streams and ancient lakes fed sand into the area where the dunes now stand. The southwest winds brought more sand over to the brink of the Sangre de Crisco Mountains and helped shape and form the dunes.

Hiking in Great Sand Dunes looks a little different than most trails people might be used to. In the 30 square miles of sand dunes there are no official trails, which means you can wander wherever you wish to go. Hiking in sand does mean that this will be more strenuous than other hikes and may take longer than expected. Also keep in mind the elevation of the park is around 8,000 feet so if you are not acclimated it will be even harder. Some popular destinations to hike to include:

High Dune: this is the most popular dune to hike to. It is around 693 feet tall and can be seen from the Visitor Center Parking lot. The average distance round trip for this dune is 2.5 miles.

Hidden Dune: at 741 feet tall this dune is in second place for being the tallest in the park. It can not be seen from the Visitor Center and is more remote than other popular dunes, hence its name. To get to the Hidden Dune you will hike around 7 miles round trip. There is a false summit (these are truly the worst so I wanted to give a heads up) that most people climb over before reaching the actual summit 

Star Dune: tied with Hidden Dune for second tallest in the park. For easier access to this dune, hike two miles south down the Medano Creek until you are able to actually see the dune. Round-trip this hike is around 6 miles long.

One of the most popular activities in this park is sandboarding or sledding. These are special boards that have a certain type of wax on them to make it a smoother glide down the dunes. You are not able to rent these boards at the visitor center, but neighboring towns have rental shops. The closest rental place is right outside the entrance of the park. Sandboarding or sledding is allowed anywhere in the park that contains no vegetation.

This is 22 mile primitive road that is only open from mid-May to November (only if the road conditions are safe). This road connects Great Sand Dunes to Highway 69 and is only for high clearance/4 wheel drive vehicles. Along the road you will drive over several sandy areas, cross the Medano Creek several times, and has large ruts throughout. There are 21 campsites along the road and they are first come first serve basis. On busy summer days, these campsites can fill up fast.

If you have time I would recommend staying out late until the stars start to come out. This is an international dark sky preserve which means there is minimal to no light pollution. Light pollution is an excess of artificial light that drowns out the night sky. Places that are considered dark sky preserves give you the opportunity to see more stars than you can imagine. You can even see the Milky Way!

Unfortunately the two nights we stayed in Alamosa a snow storm rolled through so we did not actually go to the dunes during our “official” time there. We ended up driving down from Denver a few days later but due to the long drive back we did get to see the stars at the park.

The closest town to Great Sand Dunes is Alamosa, Colorado. Alamosa is about 30 minutes away from the entrance and has several places to stay and eat. As I mentioned above it is possible to do a day trip from Denver, but this will make it a very long day. The drive to Great Sand Dunes from Denver is almost 4 hours without traffic.