Great Sand Dunes National Park
Located in southern Colorado, the Great Sand Dunes National Park is flanked to the east by the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. At the heart of the park is the remarkable dune field that features sand mounds, with the tallest dune measuring over 700 feet high. These are the tallest sand dunes in North America. The sands are constantly changing and shifting, with daily winds, water, and even gravity.
The sand dunes formed over 440,000 years ago when the right combinations of wind, water, and sediment were brought into the valley by nearby creeks and streams. Strong winds then blew the sand toward the bend in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where opposing storm winds helped form the sand into the tall dunes you see today. Two streams, the Medano and Sand creeks, continue to bring sand from the mountains and deposit it at the dunefield.
The National Park Service (NPS) added the Great Sand Dunes to their roster of parks in 1932.
Dune Types
There are a number of different types of dunes contained within the Great Sand Dunes park. Reversing dunes are the most common type in the park. Chinese walls form on top of the reversing dunes and create a wall-like structure along the ridge.
Star dunes form when the wind pattern is complex and blows from different directions over the course of the year. It creates a sort of star peak at the top of these particular dines.
Parabolic dunes are moving sheets of sand with vegetation on top. Barchan dunes form when the landscape is flat, and transverse dunes have marching straight ridges. Nebkha or Coppice dunes are simple dunes that form around vegetation.
Places to Stay While Visiting
There are no lodging options inside the park, other than Pinion Flats Campground. Alamosa is the nearest town with the most amenities. The Great Sand Dunes Lodge in Mosca is 23 miles away from the park’s entrance.
- Mosca, CO (23 miles away)
- Fort Garland, CO (30 miles)
- Alamosa, CO (34 miles)
- Monte Vista, CO (43 miles)
VISIT Great Sand Dunes National Park:
Park Details
Great Sand Dunes National Park was established in .
| Address | |
|---|---|
| Phone | 719 378-6395 |
| Hours | Open all year, 24 hours a day |
| Entrance Fee | $25 per vehicle, valid for 7 days |
When to Visit: Weather vs. Peak Visitation
We crunched 30 years of historical weather and/or park service data to find the best months to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park. We looked for the optimal temperatures, the least amount of snow and rain, and stayed away from peak visitation months if we could help it. All this data then helped us paint a picture as to what the absolute best time to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park is.
Our data shows the best months to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park are September, October, May & June.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Visits | 4,824 | 4,748 | 16,152 | 31,134 | 84,669 | 123,564 | 116,377 | 90,498 | 59,895 | 44,515 | 16,903 | 9,335 |
| Precipitation | 15 | 23 | 35 | 41 | 44 | 40 | 70 | 64 | 30 | 25 | 18 | 16 |
| Avg Temp | 37 | 38 | 47 | 56 | 66 | 77 | 80 | 78 | 72 | 61 | 47 | 37 |
| Max Temp | 47 | 49 | 59 | 68 | 77 | 85 | 87 | 84 | 80 | 72 | 61 | 50 |
| Avg Temp | 16 | 19 | 26 | 31 | 40 | 47 | 54 | 54 | 45 | 34 | 24 | 16 |
| Min Temp | -2 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 25 | 35 | 47 | 47 | 32 | 20 | 7 | -6 |
Great Sand Dunes National Park Road Trips
Many family vacations consist of stringing one or more national parks together during a week-long trip. Creating these types of trips is our specialty! Here are the road trips we've created where Great Sand Dunes National Park is visited.
| Trip Name | Trip Miles | Trip Days |
|---|---|---|
| Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Arches & Canyonlands | 792 | 7 |
| Rocky Mountains, Black Canyon of the Gunnison to Great Sand Dunes | 791 | 7 |
Other Nearby National Park Sites
From national monuments, to historic sites to seashores and more, here are the other parks closest to Great Sand Dunes National Park.