General information about the National Park
The Great Sand Dunes NP protects 12000 year old sand dunes. They were formed by sand deposits from the Rio Grande. This is blown by westerly winds from the river banks toward the Sangre de Cristo Range. The sand does not get past the mountains and is piled up. This is a continuous process. Since the year 2000 the Great Sand Dunes NP is a national park.
Number of visitors
In 2022, Great Sand Dunes NP ranked 39th in the visitor statistics of the most visited national parks.
Best time to visit: Spring and fall because of the more enjoyable temperatures.
Our visits:
So far 3 visits: October 2011, October 2012, October 2014
Entrance fees and opening hours
- 25$/car and all passengers valid for 7 days
- Covered by the Anual Pass*
- Open 24h all year round.
*The Anual Pass is so to speak the "flat rate" for all Parks managed by the National Park Service. The pass costs a one-time fee of $80 and can be purchased at the entrance to each National Park, National Monument, etc. The pass is valid for 13 months.
Sand Pit
Description: To get here you have to drive a relatively sandy dirt road along Medano Creek. This leads much further beside the creek, but for the further stretch you need a car with four-wheel drive. The road to Sand Pit is mostly drivable for normal SUVs with high ground clearance.
Our rating: The only advantage over the hike from the regular parking lot is that here you're pretty much on your own. So if you don't like other people around, you'd better come here. Otherwise, however, you basically see similar landscapes.
High Dune
Description: The attraction in Great Sand Dunes NP is basically to experience the size of the dunes. There is only a short paved road that leads to the parking lot and trailhead. So this is not a classic view point NP where you can drive from lookout point to lookout point.
Our rating: We consider this to be one of the most amazing national parks we've visited. However, this is also definitely a park that you can't experience from the parking lot. We only experienced the true fascination when we climbed the dunes. This is so strenuous that it may not appeal to some, but we can only recommend taking on the effort, because it's worth it.
The dunes are so huge and fascinating that you can't grasp the scale of them just standing in front of them. Of course, this is also quite nice, but no comparison to the experience in the dunes themselves. We found it especially great at sunset, when you also have the light and dark contrasts.
