Best Things to Do in Great Sand Dunes National Park
Robert Decker8 Unforgettable Things to Do at Great Sand Dunes National Park
Giant sand dunes. Snow-capped mountains. A seasonal creek you can splash through. Sandboarding, stargazing, four-wheel-drive adventures—and some seriously good photography. Great Sand Dunes National Park may be relatively compact, but Colorado's most unusual national park packs an incredible amount of adventure into one spectacular landscape.
It’s also unlike just about any other national park in America.
If you only have a few hours, you can experience many of the park’s highlights. But once you’re standing at the edge of those enormous dunes with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains rising behind them, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t want to leave.
Few places let you hike giant dunes in the morning, splash through a creek in the afternoon, photograph snow-covered mountains at sunset, and then watch the Milky Way stretch across an almost perfectly dark sky.
Great Sand Dunes at a Glance
- Best first stop: Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center
- Classic experience: Hike anywhere across the dunefield
- Big challenge: Climb one of North America's tallest dunes
- Most fun: Sand sledding and sandboarding
- Best after dark: Stargazing
- Backcountry adventure: Medano Pass
- Ultimate overnight: Camp among the dunes
1. Start at the Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center
Before charging straight into the sand, make the Visitor Center your first stop.
It's the best place to get oriented, check current park conditions, ask questions, and learn more about the unusual forces that created this landscape. Rangers can also tell you about current programs, weather conditions, Medano Creek flow, road conditions, and anything else that might affect your day.
Ranger programs are generally offered from late spring through fall, conditions permitting, and can add a whole new perspective to what you're seeing.
Don't think of the Visitor Center as something to save for the end. Stop there first. Conditions at Great Sand Dunes can dramatically change what you choose to do—and when you choose to do it.
2. Hike the Dunes—No Trail Required
Here’s one of the best things about hiking at Great Sand Dunes: there really isn’t a trail.
You are free to wander across roughly 30 square miles of dunefield, choosing your own route across ridges, bowls, and enormous waves of sand.
That freedom makes every hike a little different.
Before You Head Onto the Sand
- Start early during warmer months.
- Carry plenty of water.
- Wear sun protection—the dunes offer virtually no shade.
- Remember that walking uphill through loose sand is harder than it looks!
- Keep an eye on changing weather conditions.
For visitors with mobility challenges, a dunes-accessible wheelchair is also available to borrow free of charge from the Visitor Center.
During summer, try to hike the dunes in the morning. By afternoon, the sand can become extremely hot and uncomfortable.
Need an escape from the exposed dunes? Head toward one of the park’s more forested trails, including:
- Montville Nature Trail
- Mosca Pass Trail
- Sand Ramp Trail
3. Climb One of North America's Tallest Sand Dunes
Feeling ambitious?
One of the park’s signature adventures is climbing into the highest reaches of the dunefield. The reward is a truly unusual perspective: seemingly endless sand in one direction and the towering Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the other.
Researchers determined that Hidden Dune reaches approximately 742 feet from base to summit, narrowly surpassing Star Dune at approximately 741 feet.
But don't let the mileage fool you. Hiking on sand takes far more energy than hiking the same distance on a firm trail.
The journey can involve approximately seven miles round trip and around six hours of hiking from the main Dunes parking area. Come prepared for a serious day on the sand.
Not interested in turning your vacation into a leg workout? No problem.
You absolutely do not need to reach the tallest dune to enjoy the park. Climb as far as you like, turn around, and enjoy the view. The dunes are spectacular at almost every elevation.
4. Bring Your Camera
As a photographer, this is where Great Sand Dunes really gets interesting.
The landscape is constantly changing with the light. Shadows carve shapes into the dunes, wind creates patterns in the sand, and the huge contrast between golden dunes and snow-capped peaks gives you compositions that simply don't exist anywhere else.
Photography Ideas at Great Sand Dunes
- Use side lighting to emphasize dune shapes and shadows.
- Look for abstract patterns in rippled sand.
- Include people for a sense of scale.
- Use the Sangre de Cristo Mountains as a dramatic backdrop.
- Photograph Medano Creek when seasonal water is flowing.
- Stay through sunset as the color and shadows transform the landscape.
- Bring a tripod if you plan to photograph the night sky.
Beginner, enthusiast, or professional, this is a place where it pays to slow down and really look. The simplest patterns in the sand can sometimes create the strongest photographs.
5. Go Sand Sledding or Sandboarding
This may be the activity that brings out the kid in absolutely everyone.
Sand sledding and sandboarding are popular throughout the year, and equipment can be rented from several businesses in the surrounding area.
Climb up. Point downhill. Hang on.
Then do it again.
The ride down is the easy part. The hike back up while carrying your board is where Great Sand Dunes reminds you that gravity only helps in one direction.
Whether you're eight or eighty, gliding down a giant sand dune with the mountains behind you is one of those wonderfully ridiculous experiences that is very difficult to do without smiling.
6. Stay for Some Seriously Spectacular Stargazing
At Great Sand Dunes, half the park experience happens after dark.
The combination of high elevation, dry air, and limited artificial light creates exceptional conditions for viewing the night sky. When darkness settles over the dunes, the landscape takes on an entirely different personality.
Under moonlight, the dunes can glow. On darker nights, thousands of stars fill the sky and the Milky Way can become the main attraction.
Great Sand Dunes earned International Dark Sky Park certification in 2018, recognizing the remarkable quality of its night skies.
Listen for owls along the foothills. Watch for nocturnal wildlife. And if conditions are right, simply sit quietly on the sand and look up.
It may end up being one of your favorite memories of the entire trip.
7. Take a 4WD Adventure Over Medano Pass
If your idea of national park fun includes four-wheel drive, deep sand, creek crossings, and a little more adventure, Medano Pass Primitive Road may have your name on it.
This rough 22-mile road connects Great Sand Dunes with the Wet Mountain Valley and Colorado State Highway 69.
Along the way, expect:
- Deep areas of soft sand
- Multiple crossings of Medano Creek
- Rough terrain
- Mountain scenery
- Possible wildlife sightings, including bighorn sheep
Medano Pass is a genuine four-wheel-drive route and is generally passable only seasonally. Always check current park road conditions before heading out, and make sure your vehicle and equipment are appropriate for the conditions.
Soft sand can require reducing tire pressure for traction, followed by reinflation before returning to normal roads or driving over rocky terrain.
If you don't own an appropriate four-wheel-drive vehicle, rentals may be available in the surrounding area, including nearby Alamosa.
8. Camp Among the Dunes
Want to turn an unusual national park visit into an unforgettable one?
Spend the night.
Backcountry camping among the dunes gives you the chance to watch the crowds disappear, see the stars emerge, sleep surrounded by sand and silence, and wake to sunrise over one of Colorado's most surreal landscapes.
Sunset over the dunes. Stars overhead. No hotel walls. Then waking up with the first light hitting the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. That's a pretty good Colorado morning.
Backcountry camping requires a permit, and you'll need to hike into the designated backcountry area before setting up camp.
If backpacking isn't your thing, don't worry. The park also offers traditional campground options, including sites suitable for RV travelers.
So, How Long Should You Spend at Great Sand Dunes?
That's one of the great things about this park: Great Sand Dunes works for almost any itinerary.
If You Have...
- A few hours: Visit the Visitor Center, walk onto the dunes, enjoy Medano Creek when it's flowing, and take in the views.
- A full day: Add a longer dune hike, photography, and sand sledding.
- Two days: Stay for sunset and stargazing, explore more trails, or tackle Medano Pass.
- An adventurous overnight: Backpack onto the dunes and camp beneath the stars.
It may look small compared with some of the giants of the National Park System, but Great Sand Dunes delivers a surprising amount of adventure.
And the combination of enormous dunes, flowing water, alpine mountains, wildlife, and dark skies makes it a place unlike anywhere else in Colorado—or America.
Bring Great Sand Dunes Home
Great Sand Dunes has always fascinated me because of its contrasts. Vast dunes rise directly against rugged Colorado mountains, creating a landscape that almost doesn't look real.
That extraordinary combination of sand, mountains, light, and sky is what I wanted to capture in my Great Sand Dunes National Park Poster.
Inspired by the classic WPA-style national park artwork of the 1930s and 1940s, the design celebrates one of Colorado's most distinctive landscapes and makes a great reminder of a favorite trip—or inspiration for the adventure still ahead.
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