National Park Week 2023 Day 3 – Great Sand Dunes National Park!

A few years ago, we went to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado as part of an epic trip visiting the parks around Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. That is still one of our favorite trips, and this park is one of the most fun parks that we’ve been to so far. Sand sledding! Who knew?!?

These dunes are some of the tallest sand dunes in North America and you can explore any of them in the 30 square mile sand dune field. The road into the park is pretty long, so make sure to stop in the little country store right by the entrance to buy any provisions you need and rent a sand sled or sand board before you go in.

Note: your average backyard snow sled will not work well because it’s not slippery enough or you would have to constantly wax it. You need an actual sled/board made for sand sledding or sand boarding. I think they’re about $20 to rent for the day still.

It is super fun just to spend several hours here sledding the various sized dunes. You can work your way up from the bunny slopes to the steeper ones. LOL! Don’t worry, it’s not structured or labeled like a ski resort would be. It’s literally a big open field of sand dunes and it’s a free-for-all where you go and where you sled. Very cool!

However, sledding here is also not like snow sledding in your average backyard. Read up on it and come prepared.

• Dress appropriately because you will find sand everywhere for months.
• Bring goggles because the wind is fierce up in some of the higher dunes and sand will get in your eyes.
• Wear sunscreen and bring water because it is a wide open sand field and there is no protection from the hot sun.
• Protect your electronics because sand will also find their way in them.
• Bring the minimum needs with you and leave the rest in the car because you will still have to walk over to the main dunes and climb up and down those dunes every time you make a run, and let me tell you, climbing up loose sand is soooo hard.
• Identify a meeting spot and time with the folks you go with before you start because it’s very easy to lose sight of each other in those dunes, esp if it’s crowded.

Recently, we went to White Sands National Park in southeast New Mexico, and that was pretty fun as well. It’s not quite as big as this park but pretty similar. You can go sand sledding and hiking there also.

If you’re planning a trip to Great Sand Dunes, you can also go camping or hiking in the nearby mountains. There’s no shortage of outdoor recreation in this region. The larger cities of Colorado Springs and Denver are within 3-4 hours north of this park and Santa Fe and Albuquerque are about 3-4 hours south. If you want a bigger adventure, you can go about 6-8 hours west to Utah to visit Monument Valley, which is one of our all-time favorites, or several parks in the Moab region. There’s no shortage of beautiful parks and landscapes all over Utah, in fact.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to chat about planning a trip here.