An Autumn Day at Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Having never been to Colorado before, I was worried it would be too cold in November for me to enjoy the sights. I think November was the perfect time to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park, a park in Southern Colorado featuring North America’s largest dunes. In the park you can hike, camp, swim, and even sled or sandboard down the dunes.

The Great Sand Dunes cover an area of 30 square miles and are located just West of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The park is approximately a 2 and a half hour drive from Colorado Springs and about 4 hours from Denver.

View on Map

Sandboarding and Sledding

From late spring to early fall, you can rent sandboards and sleds from the very convenient Oasis facility on the highway out to the dunes. Since I visited in late fall when the facility was closed, I rented my sandboard and sled from Kristi Mountain Sports in Alamosa. We were given very helpful instruction and a bar of wax for the bottom of the boards.

Check out the video below to see how sandboarding and sledding went for my boyfriend and I who had never tried it before!

You can start small by boarding down the small hills near the parking lot, or hike higher up to board down the dunes’ steep valleys.

We quickly found that the trick to really getting the sled and board going was the wax. The rental facilities recommend swiping the wax across the bottom of the board where each foot goes, but rubbing wax over almost the entire board made a world of difference.

Hiking the Dunes

From the parking lot, there’s a long expanse of sandy hills before the dunes begin. You can simply walk around in the sandy hills or continue further to begin hiking up the outer ridge of dunes. Since Great Sand Dunes National Park is often considered one of the best places in the US to view the stars, I decided I would hike up High Dune at sunset to see the stars.

Despite High Dune’s name, the title of tallest sand dune in North America actually belongs to Star Dune, which is a much further hike. High Dune is the tallest dune on the outer ridge near the parking lot and gives a great view of the whole dune field.

The sunset over the dunes was magnificent and turned the dunes into a beautiful golden color.

Approaching the top of the dunes, my feet slid deep into the sand and backwards with every step. Since there is no defined trail because the dunes change so frequently, I had to carefully choose my way up. Some parts were so steep I never could have kept my footing.

Stargazing on High Dune

Once I got to the top, I was in for a surprise. I imagined I would peacefully sit in the sand at the top of the dune, stargaze, and photograph the stars. In reality, I was greeted by a sandstorm. Even with glasses on, my eyes (and camera) filled with sand. I breathed in sand. I ate sand.

This being said, the view and the utter darkness was breathtaking. From the top of High Dune, I could see more stars than I ever had before in my life and could even make out the Milky Way band with my bare eyes.

After taking some photographs, I quickly scurried down the dunes in the dark to escape my sandy misery. I had some difficulty hiking through the dunes to my car in the pitch dark, even with a flashlight.

I highly recommend camping in the park if you want to stay to see the stars. That way, you have some shelter from the sand and can do all your walking while it’s light out.

Would you ever try sandboarding or sand-sledding? Let me know in the comments below!

Visiting Great Sand Dunes in Autumn

There are several reasons I’m very glad I was able to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park in the fall:

• I could walk and sandboard barefoot (the sand gets way too hot to touch in the summer)
• The temperature averaged about 50° during midday in November, which was a very comfortable hiking temperature
• Entry into the park was free (compared to $25 per car during the in-season)
• There were very few people in the park

On the downside:

• There’s less daylight
• I had to drive further to rent sandboards and sleds
• The temperature drops drastically after sunset and the sand can freeze underneath, which makes the ground very cold to walk on!

Other Things to do in the Area

• Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center
  The visitor center on the way to the park is very educational and entertaining for children and adults alike.

• Zapata Falls
  The falls are refreshing in the summer and beautifully frozen in the winter. A great hike if your car can make it up the very rocky road to the trail. If not, even the view from the side of the highway is amazing.

• UFO Watchtower
  For $2 a person, you can visit the site where many UFO’s have reportedly been spotted and where psychics have supposedly detected alien vortexes. There is a mini museum and a shrine to the beings who watch over the vortexes.

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