Why Great Sand Dunes National Park
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is a protected destination located on the eastern side of the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, adjacent to the Sangre de Cristo Range. The park is renowned for containing the highest sand dunes in North America, which rise to elevations of up to 750 feet (230 meters). The overall system consists of four primary components: the central dune field, an alpine watershed, a sand sheet, and low-lying sabkha wetlands. Within the surrounding mountain watershed, ecosystems range from riparian zones and montane woodlands to subalpine forests and alpine tundra.
The dune field accumulated over tens of thousands of years as ancient lakes dried, leaving behind extensive mountain sediment. Prevailing winds from the southwest carried the sand across the valley floor toward natural gaps in the mountain range. Reversing storm winds blow back toward the valley, pushing the sand upward to create vertical heights. Furthermore, mountain streams like Medano Creek and Sand Creek constantly carry sand around the perimeter of the dunes back to the valley floor, creating a continuous recycling cycle.
Human presence in the valley extends back roughly 11,000 years, starting with Stone Age nomadic hunters. Indigenous groups with historic or cultural ties to the area include the Southern Ute, Jicarilla Apache, Navajo, and Tewa and Tiwa pueblo communities. In 1694, Spanish governor Don Diego de Vargas became the first European recorded entering the valley, followed in the 19th century by American military explorers such as Zebulon Pike, John C. Frémont, and John Gunnison. Ranchers, farmers, and gold miners later settled the area. To safeguard the dunes from gold mining and concrete production, President Herbert Hoover established Great Sand Dunes National Monument in 1932, which was reauthorized and expanded into a national park and preserve between 2000 and 2004.
To access the dunes during spring and early summer, visitors cross the wide, shallow bed of Medano Creek, which generally reaches its highest water level from late May to early June. Hiking is permitted throughout the dune field, though sand surface temperatures can climb to 150 °F (66 °C) in summer. Guests also engage in sandboarding and sandsledding using specialized equipment rented in Alamosa or near the park entrance.
Travelers with street-legal, four-wheel-drive vehicles can navigate a 22-mile (35 km) unpaved road over Medano Pass, traversing deep sand and crossing the Medano Creek stream bed nine times. While hunting is strictly prohibited inside the national park, seasonal autumn hunting is allowed within the adjacent national preserve.
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