If you’ve ever wanted to ski or sled down a hill without needing snow, Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado has you covered. Home to the tallest sand dunes in North America, the park allows visitors to sandboard, sand sled, and sand ski right down its massive dunefield.
Riders are allowed anywhere on the dunes as long as they stay away from vegetated areas. The dunes sit in the San Luis Valley, a high desert basin surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and rise more than 700 feet above the valley floor, so there’s plenty of room to find a good slope.
It’s worth knowing before you go that regular snow gear doesn’t really work here. Sleds, saucers, cardboard, and soft plastic items tend to just sit there on dry sand. Sandboards and sand sleds are made for specifically to ride in the park, with a slicker base and special wax that actually lets them glide.
From the main parking area, it’s about a 0.7 mile walk to reach smaller, gentler slopes that work well for younger kids, while the top of the first high ridge, roughly 1.25 miles out, has longer runs for the older kids and adults. Make sure you time your visit right though as summer sand can heat up to around 150 degrees. Stick to mornings and evenings or to spring and fall to avoid the incredibly high temperatures.
The National Park itself doesn’t rent gear, but a handful of shops in the San Luis Valley do, some up to an hour’s drive away, so make sure you pick up your gear on the way to the park rather than trying to find some once you arrive.
If Colorado isn’t on your radar, White Sands National Park in New Mexico also lets visitors sled down its gypsum dunes while Bruneau Dunes State Park in Idaho, home to one of the tallest single-structure dunes around, offers the same.