Description

Colorado, the Great Sand Dunes National Park is located at 8,200 feet in a remote section of Southwestern Colorado.  The park has the tallest sand dunes in North America.  April snow in the park is not unusual.  Strong winds and blowing sand are also common. 

Direction:

From Alamosa, Colorado, take Highway 160 East.  After approximately 10 miles, go left onto Highway-150.  Highway-150 goes directly into the national park after approximately 15 more miles.  

The park address used here here is a general park address, please see the Campbase map tab for the location of the entrance station. 

Comment

The Great Sand Dunes National Park is open all year with one developed campground, group camping, area camping, high clearance(4x4) camping, and backpacking campgrounds.  The park is open all year but, the campgrounds are seasional.   Campbase has visited the Pinion Flats Campground and the developed group campgrounds.  Both are documented here on Campbase.  Pinion Flats Campground and the group campgrounds are developed and accessible via paved roads.  Other campgrounds are located on dirt roads include Cold Creek Campground, Sand Creek Campground, Aspen Campground and others.  Please see the parks camping page with the link provided here for a complete campground list.  Backcountry campgrounds are all primitive.

The park does have a small seasional mini mart with ice however, it's only open during the summer months.  Just a mile or two outside the parks southern entrance is the Oasis Store, restaurant, and campground.  The store has ice and some basic food items.  The Oasis restaurant located outside the parks southern entrance, is the only restaurant in the area.  The restaurant is also seasional opening in April.  There are no other services available in or near the national park.  Additional services are available 38 miles away in the small town of Alamosa.  It's best to bring everything you need with you.  

The sand dunes at the national park are located on the far side of Medano Creek.  They are known as the tallest sand dunes in America.  To access the dunes you will need to cross Medano Creek.  It's a very shallow creek, usually not much deeper than knee deep.  It's a mountain fed stream so, it can be very cold water.  Once Across the stream you have access to the entire sand dune.  Off roading on the dunes is not allowed so, you will need to walk or climb up the sandy slopes.  Please see the Campbase photos tab for pictures of the dunes.  

There is much more to this national park than just sand dunes.  Medano Creek is popular for skim boarding and tubing.  It's a great spot to cool off during the summer months.  The creek usually dries up by August or September.  

Medano Pass is another area of the park worthy of exploring.  The pass leads into the mountains away from the dunes.  The pass is great for off road vehicles.  There are also 21 primitive camp spots in the pass.

Chick here for a short Great Sand Dunes National Park video.