Great Sand Dunes Sandboarding Excursion

My favorite of all the Colorado National Parks. My son and I traipsed across the first Sand Dune and did an overnight Backcountry expedition. We were pretty remote, but for some reason there were people walking on the Sand Dune Precipices until 10:30-11:00 pm and as there are no trees you have NO PRIVACY. Be aware if you have to “dig a hole”. If I didn’t have my son there I wouldn’t have felt safe camping alone. Very windy and walking on the sand is much more difficult than what you’d think. Bring PLENTY of water. There are showers and stores close by and on the Park. Rent a Sand Board to slide down the beautiful slopes. It’s worth the money. Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado is a surreal landscape of towering sand dunes set against the backdrop of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. Home to the tallest dunes in North America, it offers unique activities, like sandboarding, sledding, and seasonal creek surfing. The park’s vast shifting sands, create an otherworldly experience, perfect for exploration and photography. Whether hiking the dunes, stargazing in it’s designated dark sky area, or simply marveling at the contrast between desert and Alpine scenery, it’s a must visit for adventure seekers, and nature lovers alike.

Definitely something to put on your bucket list!! This place is extremely hot, sometimes there’s water on the sand dunes and sometimes there’s not. Unfortunately, for my very first trip I came, and there was no water.. hiked back to the hills and decided that that was not for me! Shoe wear is hard to figure out what you’ll need. I recommend bringing water, sandals, socks, and shoes and a change of clothes. I will definitely be back when there’s water!!

One of my favorite national parks. The roads are in good condition, the rangers are helpful, the website tells you all you need to know down to which cellular service will work, camping here is a good experience although it's hard to know where to camp until you go up. We booked a night up there, put the permit in the car, and hiked up. It's a high incline but worth it. It was a bit rainy and windy for 2 hrs, but was good after that. People start hiking early on the morning though, so pack the tent and get going early.

This is the first national park we hit in Colorado and had a great time. We didn’t get much hiking in due to a storm coming in but we at least walked out to the dunes and tried to sled down them. Definitely recommend bringing wax if you go. We really couldnt sled without it. We did see some deer in the area while driving around. We would love to go back to hike the dunes and sled again.

This was a really fun park!! The parking lot at the dunes can get crowded, and the sun definitely gets hot in the summer, so recommend going early. There are 4 shops outside the park that sells and rents sleds, the park doesn't. There are a lot of steep dunes that you can fly down in sleds. Hiking up to high dune was the best part. Amazing views from up there. The visitor center is fantastic also. Great interactive exhibits, history of the park, small gift store, and helpful staff.