Great Sand Dunes National Park

• Hours: Open year round, but the visitor center closed winter holidays
• Reservations: Not required
• Cost: National Park Service entry fee, extra camping fee
• Location: Near Mosca and Alamosa, CO, and four hours' drive from Colorado Springs, Denver or Albuquerque, driving directions below
• How Long: Allow at least a few hours, and up to a couple of days if you want to camp, hike or explore the back country
• Best Time to Visit: Beautiful any time of year, this high desert gets quite cold in the winter, with lows averaging 0 to 13 F, and fall, when aspen trees are turning yellow, is the best time for a four-wheel drive trip to Medano Pass

Great Sand Dunes National Monument

See It Now: Great Sand Dunes Photo Tour

Great Sand Dunes National Monument encompasses a diverse area that includes alpine lakes and tundra, six peaks over 13,000 feet tall, ancient spruce and pine forests, grasslands and wetlands, but the real stars here are the sand dunes, North America's tallest.

Created when sand-carrying winds slow down as they reach the 15,000-foot-high Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Great Sand Dunes rise as much as 700 feet above a high mountain valley. The dunes are home to insects adapted to life in the sand and found nowhere else and ghost forests created when the sand buries trees and then retreats to leave their skeletons standing.

With only 300,000 visitors a year, Great Sand Dunes is seldom crowded. The most popular activity at Great Sand Dunes is hiking, and their ranger-led hikes are highly recommended. The Great Sand Dunes website outlines suggested activities for visits from a few hours to several days.

If you have time and a serious four-wheel-drive vehicle (not a smaller SUV like a Subaru Forester or Toyota Rav 4), the drive to Medano Pass is one of the Great Sand Dunes park's most spectacular. If you'd rather not drive it on your own, the Park's concessioner, The Oasis, offers guided tours of Great Sand Dunes in summer. You can reach them at (719) 378-2222.

Great Sand Dunes Lodging

Great Sand Dunes National Monument
Mosca, CO
719-378-6399
Great Sand Dunes website

Pinon Flats Campground, one mile north of the Great Sand Dunes visitor center, has 88 campsites on two loops, with restrooms and water available for each loop. Each campsite can accommodate up to six people, two tents, and two cars, and all are available on a first come, first served basis. Many sites can accommodate RVs up to 32 feet long, but no electrical, sewer, or water hookups are provided.

Larger RVs, or those seeking full hookups should consider a privately-owned campground outside the park.

If you aren't camping, you can find a few hotels and bed and breakfast inns in Alamosa.

Getting to Great Sand Dunes

Great Sand Dunes National Park is 35 miles northeast of Alamosa, Colorado. You can reach it via US Highway 160 and Colorado Highway 150 from the south, or via Colorado Highway 17 and County Six Mile Lane from the west.