Sand dunes are like miniature mountains that are ever-changing.
The stability they do have is usually due to water retention and/or ground plants helping anchor them. Wherever sand dunes occur, they tend to draw a lot of people not just for their beauty but also for the range of recreational opportunities they provide such as hiking, ORV usage, boarding (riding down dunes on boards), and more.
Here are some of the best sand dune areas that aren’t at the beach that you’ll find in the country.
Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska
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If you really want to leave everyone and everything behind, these sand dunes are for you. The Kobuk Valley dunes are in one of just two U.S. national parks north of the Arctic Circle (Gates of the Arctic is the other), and there are no roads to the park, making access only by charter flight or an epically long trek.
Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Oregon
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Some of the dunes here are coastal, but many others are slightly inland. Either way, this area is a sandy getaway with a lot of different recreational activities to choose from, and access is easy.
Death Valley National Park, California
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This gigantic national park, the largest in the Lower 48, has 5 major dune fields. The Mesquite Flat Dunes are the most approachable and well-known, and they’re the dunes you see in Tattoine scenes from the original 1977 Star Wars film. The Eureka Dunes are the tallest and among the highest sand dunes in North America, and getting to the requires a long drive on unpaved roads.
Cadiz Dunes, California
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For a wilderness experience, try these dunes in Southern California. They’re managed as a federally protected wilderness area, the highest form of land protection in the country. And because they’re not as well known as places like Mesquite Flat, you’ll find them far less trampled by footprints.
Kelso Dunes, California
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Located in the remote and rugged Mojave National Preserve, these dunes have some of the tallest in the country. They’re not exactly a secret, but it’s a long drive from almost anywhere except Barstow to get to them, so these dunes rarely feel overrun.
Imperial Sand Dunes, California
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Just west of the Arizona border and just north of Mexico, the Imperial Sand Dunes are the largest dune field in California. Parts are open to multiple uses including motorized activity, but others are set aside to be disturbed only by feet.
Bruneau Dunes State Park, Idaho
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Unique in their geological composition, these dunes contain the highest single-structured sand dune, which is about 470’ tall. Something else unusual here for dune fields is the presence of some small lakes. The dark night skies help explain why there is an observatory here as well.
Killpecker Dunes, Wyoming
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These remote dunes are located in the Great Divide Basin, a vast desert and semi-desert ecosystem in south-central Wyoming. You’ll have to drive on first roads to get here, but they’re usually in pretty good shape unless it’s rained recently. Camping is free, and you can camp pretty much anywhere.
Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
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These dunes are especially majestic with the snow-capped Sangre De Cristo Mountains rising behind them. Currently, the two tallest sand dunes in North America are here– Star Dune and Hidden Dune– both 741’ high. Currently is the key word here since sand dunes frequently shift in height due to wind and rain conditions.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah
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These dunes aren’t especially high, but they’re pretty unique since their sand is pink due to the color of the eroding sandstone here. You’ll find this state park off the highway between Zion National Park and the town of Kanab.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
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America has a lot of white-sand beaches, but there are only two places where there are dune fields made of white sand. One of them is here, and the other is not too far away in Texas’s Guadalupe Mountains National Park. In both locations, the sands are made of grains of gypsum, a white mineral.
Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas
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The dunes here only rise to about 70’ in height, but they’re a standout feature in an area of Texas not known for diversity of scenery. Although sand dunes often occur in deserts, this ecosystem is actually a semi-arid one that does have groundwater. The dunes form because of the frequency and intensity of winds here and because the sand is nutrient-poor, thus making it hard for plants to grow in and stabilize it.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan
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In the Midwest, the most famous dunes are the Sleeping Bear and Indiana Dunes, but some people feel they lack a wilderness feel because of the urbanization all around and visible from them. If that’s how you might feel, check out the lesser-known dunes along Lake Superior at Pictured Rocks. They have a much wilder feel and look.
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