Great Sand Dunes National Park is by far the most unique national park I have been to. It is so completely unlike the others. As I drove up towards the park, still several miles out I could see it in the distance. I shock of white in the middle of nothing but green and mountain. At first I had to question if that was it, but as I inched closer and closer it realized that this bizarre landscape was indeed the park.
Visiting Great Sand Dunes National Park
A lot of people visit Denver, or eastern Colorado and go visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Yes, it’s a pretty easy drive from Denver. It is, however, seriously busy and you need a timed entry permit to get in. What people forget about is Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado.
It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Denver, but it is definitely possible to visit in one day, or you can stay at the campground just outside of the park (which also rents out sand boards) or you can plan a backcountry camping adventure along the Medano pass primitive road. It might surprise you, but there are other trails away from the dunes.
These are, however, the tallest dunes in North America. So, if you have one day only to visit and the weather is good, you will likely want to spend your time hiking the tallest sand dunes and sandboarding down them. There is a large parking lot right in front of the dunes, with a picnic area just before it, in case you wanted to stop for some lunch while spending the day playing in the sand.
To enter the park you will need to purchase a pass, or you can use your America the Beautiful pass. There are no timed entry and the park does not get nearly as much love as it’s neighbor to the north (RMNP). The best time to visit is early fall (I went in late September and though I picked the worst day due to a wind warning, it was the perfect time to be there otherwise) when the temperatures are a bit cooler and the visitors are fewer, though there is so much to explore and no prescribed route within the dunes, that the number of people is not really an issue.
I recommend stopping into the visitor center. There are park rangers there to help you plan your day. You used to be able to get backcountry permits here but now they are only available from recreation.gov and cost $6. There, however, a park ranger that offers advice on what to do while visiting and also does talks about the dunes throughout the day (little spoiler, they were formed by the erosion of the surrounding mountains).
This is also one of the national parks that allow you to bring your dog!
Best hikes Great Sand Dunes National Park
Hidden dune
This is the tallest dune in the park (and North America) and stands at 741 feet (225m) and is within the dune field. There is no trail here, you can create your own following the dunes. You will need to have a gps or some means of tracking where you are and where you want to go in order to reach it. This is what makes this such an amazing place. The national park recommends you plan for 7 miles (11km) round trip and several hours of hiking time.
GPS coordinates for Hidden Dune summit:
37.775916, -105.531912
High dune trail on First Ridge
This is the most popular spot in the dune field because it has great views of the entire area. It is not the tallest dune, but from the base of the dunes it is what you see and it looks like it is the tallest. It is around 688 feet (209m) from the base to the top. Plan for a 2.5 mile (4km) hike over 2 hours (hiking in sand, uphill is hard!)
GPS coordinates for High Dune on First Ridge:
37.74908, -105.532775
Montville Nature Trail
This is a great option if you want to see some of the forested areas but aren’t up for a big challenging hike. This short 0.5 mile loop trail takes you through pinion and ponderosa pine is an easy walk with great views of the sand dunes. It is also the most popular forest hike in the park, likely because it is close to the parking lot for the dunes and does not require travel on the primitive road, making it one of the only other options for hiking along the main stretch of the park.
It is also the start of the Mosca Pass trail.
Mosca pass trail
This high elevation hike was previously used by indigenous tribes and early settlers and has an elevation gain of 1400 feet. It is a great hike through forested trail, but don’t take it lightly. It is still a tough hike with the already high elevation and additional elevation gain. But you get some amazing views along the way and was my favorite part of my time in the park (though I probably would feel differently about the dunes if I hadn’t been blasted with sand the whole time due to extreme high winds).
It is a great way to get out of the sun (or wind) and back into nature.
Medano pass road
To drive along this road requires a vehicle with all terrain tires and 4-wheel drive. It’s rugged, there are stream crossings and opens fully around the end of May for the season. But this is where you will find some of the long hikes and it is a scenic drive into the backcountry. The main trail is an 11 mile trail called the Sand Ramp Trail, though it tends to be used more for people to access the backcountry camping than for a scenic hike.
There are several options for backcountry camping with seven designated backcountry campsites along Sand Ramp Trail and 20 non-designated sites in the Dunes backcountry.
Concluding Thoughts
Great Sand Dunes National Park is a truly unique experience and one that everyone should have. It is so unlike any of the other national parks (except maybe White Sands though it beats them out for highest dunes too). It seems to be a mostly overlooked destination, but there is more to it than just the dunes and it can be visited year round.
These are steep dunes, even the ones that aren’t as high as high dune and hidden dune. It’s quite the workout hiking around them all day, especially if you are going up and down on a sandboard. So, bring lots of water and have a plan.
If you are planning to visit in the winter, you will also want to head to Copper Mountain for some of the best snowboarding in Colorado (in my opinion).
