Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve
Sunset casts its golden light and eerie shadows across the vast sand dunes. We have just arrived and have the urge to kick off our hiking boots and dig our toes into the silky sand. But no, it’s only about 40 degrees now, and it will get much colder once the sun dips behind the San Juan Mountains. I shoot a few photos before dusk settles, then leave for town and our motel, anxious to return in the morning to hike and explore.
A weekend visit to this national park (recently upgraded from a national monument) reminds us why this place is so special.
These are the tallest dunes in North America, topping out at 750 feet. The dune field itself lies in the San Luis Valley, flanked by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the east, with the San Juans in the distance to the west. There is, of course, no ocean. These dunes are a unique geological feature, surrounded as they are by the Rockies.
“I call it Colorado’s beach,” says park ranger Libbie Landreth, who has been here since 1981 – most of her career.
While the obvious attraction is the dunes themselves, Landreth encourages visitors to explore other features of the park, such as the two water courses (Medano and Mosca creeks), the mountainous wildlife preserve and the sand flats.
Visitors can hike the dunes (not easy, and made more difficult by the park’s 8,200-foot altitude), or other trails along the edge of the dunes and up into the preserve, which ascends to the ridgeline north of the park.
Our first hike of the day, into the dunes themselves, has us trudging, our boots sinking into the soft sand, as we make slow progress up the first row of dunes. We live at 6,000 feet in Colorado Springs, and my husband and I both work out, but the climb leaves us breathless and a little discouraged. (You know that dream about running in sand and not getting anywhere? Well, this is the reality.)
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From here, we watch other hikers walking dogs, shooting photos or playing in the sand.
On this sunny but cool autumn Sunday, students from nearby Adams State College in Alamosa try their luck at “sledding” down the slopes. They take a run, drop belly first on the mats – and stick. The rubber mats won’t slide, and they roll around laughing at their folly. Across the sandy valley on another dune, a family has better luck with a hard plastic saucer-sled. But the climb back up is akin to walking up a ski slope to get a few seconds of thrills.
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| Special / John B. Weller |
| Dunes on a winter ridgeline.
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Skiers and snowboarders also try their luck here, with some success, says park ranger Patrick Myers. They have the best luck right after a rain or snowfall, he adds.
“It’s allowed, but not necessarily encouraged,” he says. It’s not that it does much damage to the park, “which is constantly shifting and changing anyway,” it’s just more disruptive than the usual park activity.
“As long as they stay off the vegetation, it’s OK,” he says.
But there’s more to the park than the dunes.
Visitors can explore a number of life zones in a relatively small area – from the wetlands and riparian habitat surrounding the creeks to the alpine tundra at the top of the nearby 13,000-foot peaks.
The dunes themselves encompass 30 square miles – about the size of Pueblo, Myers says. Add to that the preserve and other adjacent land bought to complete the park, and it totals 233.6 square miles full of mule deer, pronghorns, elk, bighorns, mountain lions, bears, coyotes, raccoons, marmots, rabbits, pikas, kangaroo rats and several odd species of insect. A captive bison herd roams the nearby plains.
The dunes are accessible year round. The new $4.5 million visitors center is open daily. Check out the exhibits, displays and the film if you have time. Plenty of campsites in the treed area near the dunes accommodate those who want to spend a night, or more.
The park itself never closes. But visitors are warned to stay out of the dune field on hot summer afternoons; the surface temperature of the sand can reach 140-150 degrees on sunny days. By contrast, the snow often melts off within a few hours after a winter storm, making the dunes a pleasant hike on a winter’s day.
“I’ve seen years when the snow never melts all winter, but that’s rare,” Landreth says. “Most times, it snows and then melts off the next day.”
Another unusual aspect of the park is the wavelike action found in Medano Creek each spring. The water flows in pulses, not a steady stream, and is so shallow anyone can wade – most of the time.
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| Special / John B. Weller |
| A sunflower blooms in Great Sand Dunes National Park, between the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountains.
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Medano Creek flows best during spring thaw, from April until early June. That’s when water birds make their annual appearance. Unfortunately, that’s also the season for flying insects.
“I can handle the mosquitoes and no-see-ums, but those pinon flies will fly right in your mouth and nose,” Landreth says. Good insect repellent is suggested at that time of year.
How the dunes were formed here seems a mystery, but not to anyone who has ever experienced the fierce winds that can sweep across the San Luis Valley. Sand blows straight sideways, with the prevailing wind coming from the southwest. Gradually, the dunes – the origins of which still are being researched – could have been formed as recently as 12,000 years ago.
Despite this stability, the dunes seem ephemeral, always shifting. Always fascinating and eternally mysterious. And that’s part of the draw.
“People come to Colorado expecting to see mountains,” Landreth says. “This is just so unexpected.”
Linda DuVal is a freelance writer living in Colorado Springs.
The details
What: Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve is Colorado’s fourth national park. Its signature feature is a 30-square-mile field of sand dunes that stand up to 750 feet high, surrounded by the Colorado Rockies. In all, the park is about three-fourths the size of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Where: The park is 34 miles northeast of Alamosa, in the San Luis Valley. It’s about 240 miles ( a four- to five-hour drive) from Denver.
When to visit: The park is always open. The visitors center is open daily 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., longer in summer. If you want to see the creeks flowing, spring is the best time to come; if you want the most pleasant weather, late summer and fall are best. You can find spectacular, perfect days in the park almost any time of year.
Admission: $3 a person.
Accessibility: The visitors center is handicap-accessible, and a dune buggy-style wheelchair is available for use.
Lodging: Plenty of campsites are available in the park (call for reservations), and there’s a lodge just outside the park entrance. Many visitors stay in nearby Alamosa, which has a range of chain motels and bed-and-breakfasts.
Information: Call the park at 719-378-6300, or visit For information on visiting the Alamosa area, call 800-258-7597, or go to
-Linda DuVal
