We Invested an Evening on The United States and Canada’s Tallest Dune

Fantastic Dune National forest appears like something you would certainly anticipate to locate in the Sahara Desert, not in the center of Colorado. Limitless dunes extend regarding the eye can see, producing a definitely jaw-dropping scene. Someplace amongst the sea of sand exists the magnificent Celebrity Dune, the highest dune in The United States and Canada. And we chose that this 714-foot dune was the excellent area to camp for the evening.

Sand dunes cast shadows in the afternoon sun at Great Sand Dunes National Park

With just sand below us and celebrities over, we triggered on among our most unique outdoor camping experiences yet. So, just how did it go? Allow’s simply claim– this experience was one for guides.

Outdoor Camping in Great Desert National Forest

Daily, Great Desert National forest launches a minimal variety of licenses that permit site visitors to rest over night in the dunes. These licenses are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, so we got here brilliant and very early to try to grab one (Note: since 2025, backcountry licenses are just offered to get online here). Success! With a license safeguarded, we threw away no time at all avoiding on our legendary dune experience.

One failure of living in a van? There’s not a great deal of room for non-necessities. A huge concern for this journey was our absence of correct backpacking equipment. We have to’ve looked outrageous hauling our gigantic resting bags with the dunes. If you do this journey on your own, take our suggestions– come much better ready than we did.

Treking with hills of sand at an altitude of 8,000 feet is seriously. What was expected to be a 4-mile walking to Celebrity Dune seemed like 100 miles as we fought versus the clouds of sand blowing in our faces. After the very first 1.5 miles directly a dune, we lastly saw The United States and Canada’s highest dune standing distant. It was awesome which view alone offered us a press to maintain going.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, late afternoon during the month of May, overcast, dramatic sky, tall sand dunes with river and trees area below.

However as quickly as we began pushing closer to Celebrity Dune, we were struck with real size of this obstacle. What appeared like carefully rolling hillsides were really impressive hills of sand. As a result of the regularly moving sands, there was no collection course to comply with. Each action took us just half regarding we wanted to go. We did our ideal to locate the course of the very least resistance, however some dunes were much also big to climb up, so rather, we were compelled to stroll alongside the dune, combating with every action to not simply slide down right into a valley.

The great sand dunes national park during the evening facing west

The wind groaned, blowing up sand right into our eyes, ears, and every subjected inch of skin. Our mouths were covered in grit, each breath crunching in between our teeth. Taking a look around, we saw that we were the only backpackers that had actually pressed past the very first collection of dunes. Were we totally out of our minds for trying this?

Regardless of really feeling definitely unpleasant, we likewise really felt that harsh, tough exhilaration that originates from pressing ourselves to do something challenging. This sensation is the reason we’re addicted to pressing ourselves out of our convenience areas. After what appeared like years, we lastly made it to Celebrity Dune, and the enjoyment we really felt made the experience worth it.

Sand Dunes and sky

That is till we remembered we needed to really invest the entire evening out right here. The wind was grabbing, the skies transformed dark with tornado clouds, and the cool of going to 8,000 feet began to begin. Were we prepared to oversleep these problems?

Equally As we will reverse, the skies removed, and we located an outdoor camping place secured from the wind. This was mosting likely to be a really uneasy evening of rest, however we made it this much, right? Seeking out at the celebrities and paying attention to the audio of outright nothingness waned us right into an uneasy and rather unpleasant rest.

Night Sky in March Over Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado

Generally, we were right in assuming that this would certainly be just one of our worst evenings of rest ever before, however we awakened in the early morning sensation happy for these brand-new memories we had actually made … and happy to be active, offered we located hill lion tracks 300 backyards where we rested.

To view our complete experience outdoor camping on The United States and Canada’s biggest dune, have a look at the video clip listed below.

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