Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is a National Park in Alamosa and Saguache Counties, Colorado.  The park protects the largest sand dunes in North America in the northeast of the San Luis Valley and the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  Great Sand Dunes was established as a National Monument in 1923 by President Hoover.  In 2000, Congress passed the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of 2000 and the monument was re-designated as a national park in 2004.  There are two wilderness areas - Great Sand Dunes Wilderness in the park and Sangre de Cristo Wilderness in the Preserve.

Contact Information:

11999 State Highway 150

Mosca, CO 81146

Phone: (719) 378-6395

Map:

Dunes:

Visitors are allowed to hike anywhere they wish in the dunefields through there are no trails.  The dunefield makes up Great Sand Dunes Wilderness.

Local vendors also rent duneboards and sandsleds to slide down the dunes.

Trails:

Montville Nature Trail:

Montville Nature Trail is a half-mile loop through a forested area along Mosca Creek.

Mosca Pass Trail:

Mosca Pass Trail leads from a trailhead along the main park road along Mosca Creek into Sangre de Cristo Wilderness for 3.5 miles to Mosca Pass.

Sand Ramp Trail:

Sand Ramp Trail leads for 11 miles along the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Wildlife:

Plains prickly pear (Opuntia polyacantha)

Scarlet hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus coccineus)

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana)

Blog Entries:

07-Apr-2021: Medano Creek Hike

06-Apr-2021: Duneboarding

05-Apr-2021: Upper Rio Grande Waterfalls

External Links:

National Park Service website: https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm

Wilderness.net website: https://wilderness.net/visit-wilderness/?ID=221