Sand Dunes National Park

A national park where you can stare at some sand... but it's cooler than you think!

Last weekend, Adam and I went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It's relatively close to where we live, and I've been itching to get back there. I've now been to the park three times, and each visit is getting better.

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My first park visit was in 2015. At the time, I was very new to hiking and didn't know what to expect. After reading about Medano Creek flowing in the summer, I was excited to take long exposure photographs of the water.

It was midday in June at the park, so many people were playing in the water or sledding down the sand dunes. I remember getting frustrated with my camera remote (not wireless) and tripod (too flimsy). Getting a proper long exposure was challenging, and I let my irritation get the best of me.

Also, I was not in hiking shape when I visited the dunes; hiking them took a lot of work. You take two steps forward, and then you slide backward a bit. Eventually, I stayed at the bottom of the dunes and shot all my photos.

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My second visit was in October 2019. This time, I actually hiked a bit of the dunes. I didn't go far because I was with my parents and didn't want to leave them waiting in the sand (or the car) for hours.

Top tip: If you visit and want a relaxing view, bring a couple of camping chairs and just people-watch.

Despite the challenging hiking conditions, you see more intriguing sand shapes as you get higher on the dunes. I enjoyed photographing the yellow sand paired with a blue sky.

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I knew for this third visit that I wanted to see more of the dunes in the distance.

Because we were going to hike further in the park, we started the day with breakfast in the parking lot. As the light crested the mountains to the east, the morning light hitting the dunes was stunning.

Initially, I hoped hiking to one area on the first ridgeline would get me some views, but I was wrong. You have to walk to the tallest dune on that ridgeline.

Adam and I kept seeing dunes slightly higher than where we were, so we kept hiking to the higher spots. This led to us making it to High Dune. It was such an unexpected surprise because I had no plans to get to High Dune when I mapped our hike. I thought it was too hard and too far to hike. Wrong again!

I'm considering entering the Iowa State Fair photography salon again this year. This year's theme is "leading lines," so I kept thinking about where I saw lines in the sand.

I was excited to try out my telephoto lens at the park to really zoom into the different shapes in the sand.

Once the clouds rolled in, I included a focus on the sunlight and cloud shadows.

I probably would have spent an entire day or two on the dunes, but we only allocated a day of our vacation in the park. 

Since the park is so close, I hope to shoot again at the dunes on a weekend in January or February. I'm looking for snow-capped peaks, pink sunrises, and long, low-sun shadows. 

One of the best parts of this trip was finding close boondocking camp spots, so I'd actually feel comfortable doing a solo van trip if Adam didn't want to join! Great Sand Dunes is an international dark sky destination. Even though we didn’t camp in the park, I’ve never seen so many stars in my life as I did at our camping spot!

Have you ever been to Sand Dunes NP, White Sands NP (so gorgeous!), or the dunes in Death Valley (on my list)? Let me know if you have any advice for photographing sand dunes!

Cheers.