Day 3 at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
We set out to climb High Dune, one of the tallest dunes in the park at nearly 700 feet. There's no official trail, just a choose your own adventure path through the sand. With sustained 25–30 mph winds, we trudged upward as sand whipped around us. Thankfully, most of it stayed below head level, but taking a break to sit down wasn’t really an option unless we wanted to get sandblasted in the face.
High Dune
3 / 4
1 / 30
Every step up felt like sliding halfway back. We followed the dune ridges on the way up, which occasionally offered firmer footing, a small mercy. After what felt like a stairmaster from hell, we reached the top and were rewarded with sweeping views of the entire dune field. We split an apple at the summit, which was quite tasty after all the effort.
Near the top, we met a couple from England who asked Danny to take their photo. Their names were—get this—Danny and Dani. They told us they had hiked this same dune eight years ago, and were recreating the moment with a time-lapse photo—just like we did at the Grand Canyon. Given how few people were around and how spread out they were, it was lucky they crossed paths with us when they did.
The trip down was a completely different story. We took a more direct route and joyfully ran down the sides of the dunes, some of them over 100 feet tall. Running down with ease was like gravity’s apology for the suffering on the way up.
We returned to Piñon Flats Campground to take a break, have lunch, and clean sand out of every crevice. Then, we decided to do a little more exploring. We drove a back road to the "Point of No Return", where a high-clearance 4WD is required to go further. We decided not to risk it with our 2WD Tahoe, and walked the road for a bit, getting a different view of the dunes.
Later, we headed to the nearby San Luis Lakes State Wildlife Area, where we found a concrete boat ramp leading to... nothing. The lake had receded hundreds of yards from the put-in. We both wondered how long ago boats could actually launch from there.
I walked quite a ways out toward the water across the dry lake bed. Just as I started getting closer, the ground got noticeably muddier, and without my boots on, I decided to turn back. I saw birds on the water off to the right in the distance and tried to track that way to get a closer look—but with the thickening grass, it didn’t seem worth it. Mission abandoned. Back to the ramp.
Near the top, we met a couple from England who asked Danny to take their photo. Their names were—get this—Danny and Dani. They told us they had hiked this same dune eight years ago, and were recreating the moment with a time-lapse photo—just like we did at the Grand Canyon. Given how few people were around and how spread out they were, it was lucky they crossed paths with us when they did.
The trip down was a completely different story. We took a more direct route and joyfully ran down the sides of the dunes, some of them over 100 feet tall. Running down with ease was like gravity’s apology for the suffering on the way up.
We returned to Piñon Flats Campground to take a break, have lunch, and clean sand out of every crevice. Then, we decided to do a little more exploring. We drove a back road to the "Point of No Return", where a high-clearance 4WD is required to go further. We decided not to risk it with our 2WD Tahoe, and walked the road for a bit, getting a different view of the dunes.
Later, we headed to the nearby San Luis Lakes State Wildlife Area, where we found a concrete boat ramp leading to... nothing. The lake had receded hundreds of yards from the put-in. We both wondered how long ago boats could actually launch from there.
I walked quite a ways out toward the water across the dry lake bed. Just as I started getting closer, the ground got noticeably muddier, and without my boots on, I decided to turn back. I saw birds on the water off to the right in the distance and tried to track that way to get a closer look—but with the thickening grass, it didn’t seem worth it. Mission abandoned. Back to the ramp.