Great Sand Dunes National Park is a truly unique place though, it’s true, it’s no Yellowstone. What there is to see there, is, well, limited to what there is to see but, as with the San Luis Valley as a whole, it’s understated and captivating. I’ve taken a lot of photos most of which I can’t find this morning. My first jaunt out there with my neighbors back in 2016.
The water phenomenon you see in the featured photo is the snow melt creek — Medano Creek — that turns the Sand Dunes into a beach in spring. If you just landed here and didn’t look around, seeing the families with coolers, beach umbrellas and boogie boards you’d think “WTF? Where AM I?”
Another interesting phenomenon I discovered on my first visit is that it’s impossible to take a focused photo of the dunes themselves. Huh? Why? Because the sand is ALWAYS moving.
They are about 50 miles from Monte Vista, across potato fields.
The formation of the dunes is a fascinating story you can learn about here. Humans have been hanging around there for thousands of years, not all with coolers and boogie boards, but Clovis Points and flaking tools have been discovered and are displayed in the beautiful visitor’s center. The Sand Dunes is also an internationally designated Dark Sky Area.
The photos below reflect several visits out to the Dunes. One thing I want to do and haven’t done is visit them when they are covered in snow.
23 thoughts on “By Request… Great Sand Dunes National Park”
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“Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
Thanks, drove over to the Dunes on our San Luis valley visit. Can’t walk good enough for sand but always enjoy driving to and from and around the camp ground etc. LF
❤ Next time, let's meet up.
You live in a remarkable area, Martha — so much variety!
It’s a pretty amazing valley.
Gorgeous photographs Martha, what a wonderful place to explore! 🐾💛🐾
It is! It’s as close to the sea as we have here. 🙂
Lake Michigan also has great dunes. We met our relatives from Detroit at Warren Dunes State Park to camp every summer. I went back as an adult and it was not recognizable. The dunes had shifted inland and the former campground was buried.
I love the Dunes near Gary, Indiana — are those the same ones?
More or less; Indiana Dunes is about 30 miles south. We went to the park in Indiana once and then moved to Michigan for all other years.
Very nice. We have some dunes up here in our big empty, too!
Maybe dunes are a definitive characteristic of big empties!
What a peaceful place. I had no idea that sand dunes were so ever-changing. I’ve never visited any! Great photos. 😎
🙂 Just don’t go there in July… (Mosquitoes in Biblical quantities)
Oh no! Mosquitoes are on my danger zone list.
Do they go boom?
The ones out in the Mojave Preserve go boom when you try to walk down them.
Apparently they do but we call it “singing” — the same sound as the Mojave Dunes. Here’s a Natl Geo Link which somehow attaches itself to your comment. It’s http://youtu.be/4mbypyJjqhk
Now there’s a piece of trivia for which I’m not sure I’ll ever have use – dunes sing in a single note, either E, F, or G. Maybe I should bring a pitch pipe next time I go.
You never know!
This video is “my” dunes… That damned literacy problem https://youtu.be/KwZeTs2WtUU
very beautiful, almost like you’re on another planet
It’s an amazing place.
I visited there! I didn’t know you in 2010 – and maybe you were still in California then… We liked them but were not surprised since we have lived near the Indiana Dunes and have visited there (and in Michigan) on many occasions. The photos are really pretty…
I’ve been to the Indiana Dunes. 🙂