Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve was originally designated a national monument in 1932, then a wilderness area in 1976, and attained national park status in 2004. The national park designation included a new national preserve in the adjacent Sangre de Cristo Range.

Maps and wide views

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  Park map
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  Backcountry map
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  Regional map
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  Aerial view
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  Satellite view

Dunes

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  Late day shadows
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  Summit of Star Dune, the park's tallest dune
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  Star Dune at left and yellow aspens in the mountains
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  From top of Star Dune
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  Dunes and mountains
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  Climber ascends High Dune, one of the park's tallest
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  Windblown sand
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  Sandboarding
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  Dune patterns
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  Dunes from valley
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  Milky Way over dunes. Great Sand Dunes was designated an International Dark Sky Park in 2019.

Fauna

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  Great Sand Dunes tiger beetle (Cicindela theatina)
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  A female ten-lined June beetle (Polyphylla decemlineata)
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  Mountain bluebird in rabbitbrush
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  Avocet in snow
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  Wood duck
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  Northern saw-whet owl
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  Swainson's hawk
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  Sandhill cranes
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  Pronghorn
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  Elk
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  Elk by dunes
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  Bison

Flora

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  Blowout grass (Redfieldia flexuosa)
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  Small-flowered sand verbena
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  Prairie sunflowers and Rocky Mountain beeplants
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  Cottonwood trees
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  Aspen trees

Medano Creek

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  Medano Creek
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  Children riding the creek's surge flow
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  Full moon over dunes and the creek
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  Woman in a sand wheelchair by the creek

Sangre de Cristo Range

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  Lower Sand Creek Lake
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  Upper Sand Creek Lake and Basin
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  Aspens above the dunes
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  Snow-covered dunes and Mount Herard