Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, An Overview

I didn’t have the best light for my day at the Great Sand Dunes but, calibrating the eye for the conditions, it was still possible to make some really nice images due to how strange the environment is. It seems quite out-of-place here in the mountainous region of Colorado. These are the highest sand dunes in North America and they are nestled right here, in among the high, snowy peaks of our state!

Some things to consider and a few factoids:

–Even though the Park seems small (only one big parking lot exists to access the main dunes) it is actually much bigger than what initially meets the eye. First, you have the main dune area of some 19,000 acres–this of a total of over 44,000 acres within the Park. Then you have an additional nearly 42,000 acres that form part of the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area and are deemed the Great Sand Dunes Preserve. Most visitors choose to play on the obvious dune piles by the parking lot (the kids love it!), but you can also explore grasslands, the riparian zone along Medano Creek, and the alpine trails to the east.

–The dunes reach up to 750-feet high. They are very sensuous and inviting, but–warning to would-be hippies–they can also burn the crap out of your bare feet in summer. The best footwear any time of the year? Something sturdy and closed so the sand doesn’t get into your socks.

–In a soundscape study by the National Park Service, the Dunes were found to be one of the quietest spots in any National Park in the lower 48. I can vouch for that–you can hear your pulse when you stop and stand motionless in the sandscape.

—Mt. Herard, at 13, 297′, is that big peak to the northeast. It looks like a unique viewpoint from which to photograph the Dunes if you have the motivation to get your hiney and your gear up to the summit in good light.

–There is a 4WD road that goes behind the dunes and eventually up to Medano Pass. A nice journey. Try it in the fall before the first heavy snows and when the leaves are still changing as the water crossings won’t be too harrowing that time o’ year. There are great camp sites a bit over five miles in, just inside the Preserve boundary.

–Look at the weather forecast before you go. Try to catch the Park after a good rain or wind storm so the dunes will be untracked by others. If you can’t do that, just hike in beyond the first main ridge and you will find plenty of untracked territory. Or…just incorporate those tracks into your photography!

–If you go there for dune boarding or sledding, go when the sand is wet. Check at the Visitor’s Center for the best locations (likely in the Sand Pit area) and to purchase your lift ticket (just kidding).

–A local Boulder photographer, John Weller (now published by National Geographic…see his famous penguin image here), spent many a day and night camped out in the middle of the Dunes and his gorgeous book Great Sand Dunes National Park, Between Light and Shadow, might be of interest to you. I can’t imagine how he dealt with all those grains of sand mixing it up with his camping and camera gear, but his images are spectacular.

Here is what I came up with in just 6-8 hours in so-so light at the Dunes. (As usual, the larger prints look much better than these, sized-for-web, pocket pics.)

First, a crossing of Medano Creek at the base of the dunes: