Great Dunes National Park sits in a beautiful location surrounded by high peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Established in 1932 as a national monument and turned into a national park in 2000, the park preserves the tallest dunes in North America. If you’re in southern Colorado want to check out the dunes, read on for 4 tips on how to spend a day in Great Sand Dunes National Park.
How to spend a day in Great Sand Dunes National Park?
1. Hike the sand dunes
Hiking sand dunes is not an easy feat, especially in the summer time. The sand is pretty soft and climbing to the top of them requires persistence. Choose a ridge and hike to its top. Most likely, it will be a false ‘summit’ but the views will be definitely rewarding. The dunes are large, and looking at them from atop is great.
2. Go sledding
We were hoping we’d be able to potentially rent a dune buggy but we should have known better. Such things are typically not allowed in a national park, and rightly so. You can, however, rent a sand board outside of the park at the Great Sand Dunes Oasis store and slide down the dunes. That seemed to be a very popular thing to do. While we didn’t do it, people of all ages, young and older, enjoyed sledding down the steep sandy hills.
3. Play by the creek
Before you get to the dune fields, you’ll need to cross a creek. On a hot sunny day, it might be fun to dip your feet in the water and relax in the shade. We saw lots of visitors picnicking along the creek with kids playing in the water with pleasure.
4. Explore the surrounding forests and mountains
There are several longer trails you can do that take you into the mountains. The Mosca Pass Trail is one of them. It was too hot for us to do it but it would be a great hike in the fall.
