U.S. Southwest:

Great Sand Dunes National Park,

Colorado

August 27-28 2019

(Elevation: 7,520 ft.)

National Park Service

Great Sand Dunes National Park, is located in south central Colorado on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. It contains the tallest sand dunes in North America, with the spectacular Sangre de Cristo Mountains (part of the Rockies) as its background. The dunes encompass an area of 30 square miles and contain over 1.2 cubic miles of sand.

Sediments from the surrounding Sangre de Cristo Mountains filled valley lakes over tens of thousands of years. After these lakes receded, exposed sand was blown by the predominant southwest winds toward the Sangre de Cristos, eventually forming the massive dunefield we see today.

National Park Service

The national park was originally designated Great Sand Dunes National Monument on March 17, 1932 by President Herbert Hoover, and preserves an area of large sand dunes up to 750 feet tall, in south-central Colorado. The park encompasses 107,342 acres (167.7 sq mi), in the San Luis Valley and Sangre di Cristo Mountains

Arrival at Great Sand Dunes National Park

We arrived at Great Sand Dunes NP after a long drive across southern Colorado. As we turned off of U.S. 160, to enter the park, we were greeted with views of the distant dunes, and a spectacular view of Blanca Peak, the fourth highest summit of the Rocky Mountains. The 14,351-foot peak is the highest summit of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a sub-range of the Rockies.

Arrival at Great Sand Dunes National Park Gallery

Most of our explorations at Great Sand Dunes N.P. occurred on the eastern edge of the dunes, very near our campsite at the beautiful Pinyon Flats Campground. Our first morning there included a 4 mile hike into the sand dunes and surrounding scrub landscapes. The views from atop the dunes were amazing- seemingly endless white sand to the west and south, and the towering Sangre de Cristo Mountains just to the east.