From a distance, the Great Sand Dunes look fake. To be honest, even up close they look a little fake.
Most avid hikers will tell you that places like Yellowstone, Glacier, or the Tetons are at the top of their bucket lists. For me, it has always been something a little different.
Ever since learning about the Great Sand Dunes, they have been the number one place I wanted to visit if I ever got a chance to go out West. Well, on my recent trip to see the Ring of Fire Eclipse, I finally made it!
A sea of sand
Nestled on the edge of the San Luis Valley, the Great Sand Dunes are a strange sight. When leaving the Wolf Creek Pass area, you have a 45-50 mile drive across the flattest stretch of land I have ever seen before you reach a sea of sand.
Prevailing winds across the valley have slowly built these dunes up against the high peaks nearby until they became the tallest on the continent. The tallest, Star Dune, stands over 700 feet above the valley floor. I didn’t quite make it out that far on this trip, but I did get to spend several hours trekking among the peaks.
The hike to the dunes begins with crossing the dry Medano Creek bed. During the spring, this wide shallow river is fed by the snow melting off the nearby mountains that tower several thousand feet above. Mt. Herard can be seen in the image above, and it has an elevation of over 13,000 feet.
During the late summer and fall, the creek bed is dry. Hiking across it is quite difficult simply because of the loose sand. Imagine walking on the loose sand at the beach but doing so at 8,000 feet above sea level for several hundred yards.
And that was just the beginning!
Sandboarding
Once you reach the dunes, the terrain quickly goes uphill in a hurry. The sides are very steep and extremely tough to climb.
I don’t often have to stop and catch my breath on hikes but going up these dunes required multiple stops. The loose sand quickly beats any stamina you thought you had out of you as, on each step up, you slide a little bit back down the hill.
When I finally reached the top of High Dune after a 650-foot climb, I was greeted with one of the most astonishing views I have ever seen.
Over 30 square miles of sand rolled out in front of me as far as my eyes could see. It defies explanation to try and describe how other-worldly it looks.
From here, I could see all the people below going about and enjoying their time at the dunes. A popular activity is sandboarding. You can rent either a board or a sled and slide down the steep dune sides to the valleys beneath.
I didn’t have time to participate, but it looked like great fun.
I captured this shot of a man going down a nearby dune on his board. I was able to get these photos to him afterward and document his successful surf to the bottom.
Alone among the dunes
I spent several hours hiking out into and around the dunes. This was the only time on the trip I left my dad behind as he went off to try and find some elk. The hiking up and down the dunes is particularly hard on the back and knees, and we didn’t want to risk any problems.
The waves created by the wind stand out particularly well the farther away from the throngs of people you get.
For an extended period of time, I was the only person around. Very few people venture past the top of High Dune, and the majority don’t even make it that far. I set the camera up to capture this shot of myself while I was at the farthest point of my journey.
Interestingly, there are plenty of plants growing in these dunes. They can be found in almost any valley, and I even stumbled across a few flowers still blooming in mid-October.
My goal for my hike was to capture the sunset from near the top of High Dune. This time of year, the sun sets back toward Star Dune, which makes for some fantastic photo opportunities.
I searched around for a little while before settling on an area full of sand ripples to shoot the sunset.
Glittering sand
In all of the articles and stories I have read about the dunes, they all failed to mention something: the sand glitters at sunset. It is hard to capture in a photograph, but millions of sparkles can be easily seen by the eye when the sun gets low in the sky and reflects off the shiny sand particles.
We spent the night at the Pinon Flats campground before getting up early the next morning to strike out on our next adventure.
I hope to one day make it back to the dunes to spend more time there, but that will be for another day. Our trip was nearing its end, and we still had lots to do.
