Top 5 U.S. National Parks With Sand Dunes

One of my favorite national park trip memories is exploring and jumping down the sand dunes of California’s Death Valley National Park. Spending that spring morning wandering through a huge dune field was glorious and liberating.

It’s an experience I still cherish, and one that, I think, few very of us get to enjoy on a regular basis—myself included.

So, with that said, I thought I’d put together a list of the greatest sand dunes in America’s national parks.

You Can Play in Huge Sand Dunes in These 5 U.S. National Parks

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Those hills of sand are usually open for unlimited exploration. You can walk where, when and how far your want, whether it’s the morning, afternoon of the middle of the night.

While none of the dune fields featured below will be the only reason you visit a particular park, I do strongly suggest putting them on your park itinerary.

All of them are spectacular. Often, they’re one of the park’s major highlights—if not the number one attraction—as is the case for, most notably, Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado.

Top 5 National Parks With Sand Dunes

As you may expect, more than half of the national parks with sand dunes are found in a desert environment. The American Southwest, for example, is home to no fewer than three national parks with massive dune fields.

However, you’ll also find stunning sand dunes on the shore of Lake Michigan and even, perhaps rather surprisingly, in northwestern Alaska!

5. Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana

The only national park in Indiana, Indiana Dunes National Park straddles a 15-mile section of the southern shoreline of Lake Michigan. The park is a popular destination—it’s only a quick drive from Chicago—thanks to its beautiful sandy beaches and great bird watching opportunities.

Just behind the beaches lies a series of stunning sand dunes, which rise up to 200 feet high. There are also sand valleys, blowouts and ridges to explore.

In addition to these scenic dunes, you can hike through prairie landscapes, marshes and bogs, forests and oak savanna.

After exploring the Indiana Dunes and the park’s other scenery, you can cool off with a refreshing dip in shimmering Lake Michigan. The Dunewood Campground offers the chance to spend the night in this wonderful Great Lakes national park.

4. Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska

One of the remotest, most inaccessible and, as such, least visited national parks in America, Kobuk Valley National Park lies deep in the northwestern Alaskan Arctic. You can only get there by plane, so visiting its breathtaking wilderness may be a (pricey) challenge.

If you can actually make it there, however, you’re up for the adventure of a lifetime. It’s a paradise for backpackers, anglers, boaters and wildlife watchers.

One of the most popular areas in Kobuk Valley National Park for camping and hiking are the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes. This glorious dune field is one of the remnants of an enormous area of sand dunes that covered the region right after the retreat of the Pleistocene glaciers.

Nowadays, the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes are North America’s largest active—as in continuously moving and changing due to winds—Arctic dune field.

Planes can land right on the sand and you can pitch a tent on any level surface. When traveling by floatplane and landing on the Kobuk River, it’s a 2-mile one-way hike across the tundra to the dunes. You’ll need a map and compass.

3. Death Valley National Park, California

The largest national park in the contiguous United States, Death Valley National Park in southern California also holds some other records. This park is home to the lowest spot in North America—Badwater Basin—and is both the hottest and driest place on the continent.

It offers some of the most epic desert scenery anywhere in the country, including seemingly endless salt flats, abandoned mines, colorful canyons and badlands, and massive mountain ranges. Of course, there are huge sand dunes as well.

In fact, Death Valley National Park is home to no fewer than five different dune fields. The Ibex Dunes, Panamint Dunes and Saline Valley Dunes are the least known and quietest, while the remote Eureka Dunes are the tallest sand dunes in California.

The most famous dunes in Death Valley, however, are the scenic Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, which I referred to in the beginning of this post.

Situated near Stovepipe Wells, these very accessible sand dunes may not be extraordinarily high—up to 100 feet—but they do cover a vast area. You’ll find three types of dunes in this fun part of Death Valley National Park: linear, crescent and star-shaped dunes.

2. White Sands National Park, New Mexico

Situated in south-central New Mexico, near the city of El Paso, Texas, White Sands National Park is one of the most photogenic national parks in America. Rising up from the Tularosa Basin, these sparkling white sands make up a massive dune field of endless ridges, crests and waves.

Encompassing 275 square miles of desert, this is the largest gypsum sand dune field on Earth.

The scenic Dunes Drive leads 8 miles from the visitor center into the heart of the gypsum dunes, a 16-mile roundtrip. Along the way, you’ll find roadside exhibits, picnic areas, hiking trails and pullouts.

For a more up-close experience with the dunes of White Sands National Park, there are a number of hikes you can do. Casual hikers can walk the Interdune Boardwalk or Playa Trail, while adventure-minded visitors might be interested in the Backcountry Camping Trail.

The Alkali Flat Trail, on the other hand, is arguably the park’s most popular day hike. It’s a 5-mile roundtrip hike up and down the dunes.

1. Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

As its name implies, Great Sand Dunes National Park is home to some pretty big dunes. In fact, these are the tallest sand dunes anywhere in North America, rising up to 750 feet above the San Luis Valley.

Exploring these gigantic mountains of sand is, in my opinion, one of the greatest American national parks experiences. It’s also a phenomenal place to try some sand boarding or sledding—you can rent boards and sleds at the store just outside the park boundary.

While the Great Sand Dunes are the obvious centerpiece of this underrated park, there’s much more to it.

Medano Creek, for example, is a popular playground for children in summer, while hikers and hunters can enjoy the adjacent national preserve. This is also one of the most dog-friendly national parks in the country, a great destination for a family road trip.

And if that’s not enough, Great Sand Dunes National Park is as spectacular at night as it is during the day. An official International Dark-Sky Park, it’s one of the best places in the USA for stargazing. A hike in the dunes on a clear moonless night is unforgettable.

For the best views, pitch your tent on Loop 1 at the Piñon Flats Campground, one of my all-time favorite national park campgrounds.

Which of These National Parks With Sand Dunes Have You Visited? Share Your National Parks Experience in the Comments Below!

Disclaimer: The images of Indiana Dunes, Kobuk Valley and White Sands National Parks above are courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service (public domain).

Other Natural Attractions in National Parks

• Fall Foliage
• Fossils
• Northern Lights
• Night Skies
• Volcanoes
• Waterfalls
• Wildflowers
• Wildlife