Great Sand Dune National Park looks like something you’d expect to find in the Sahara Desert, not in the middle of Colorado. Endless dunes stretch as far as the eye can see, creating an absolutely jaw-dropping scene. Somewhere among the sea of sand lies the majestic Star Dune, the tallest sand dune in North America. And we decided that this 714-foot dune was the perfect place to camp for the night.
With nothing but sand beneath us and stars above, we set off on one of our most surreal camping experiences yet. So, how did it go? Let’s just say – this adventure was one for the books.
Camping in Great Sand Dunes National Park
Each day, Great Sand Dunes National Park releases a limited number of permits that allow visitors to sleep overnight in the dunes. These permits are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so we arrived bright and early to attempt to snag one (Note: as of 2025, backcountry permits are only available to reserve online ). Success! With a permit secured, we wasted no time heading off on our epic sand dune adventure.
One downfall of living in a van? There’s not a lot of space for non-necessities. A big worry for this trip was our lack of proper backpacking gear. We must’ve looked ridiculous lugging our giant sleeping bags through the dunes. If you do this trip for yourself, take our advice – come better prepared than we did.
Hiking through mountains of sand at an elevation of 8,000 feet is no joke. What was supposed to be a 4-mile hike to Star Dune felt like 100 miles as we battled against the clouds of sand blowing in our faces. After the first 1.5 miles straight up a sand dune, we finally saw North America’s tallest dune standing in the distance. It was breathtaking and that sight alone gave us a push to keep going.
But as soon as we started pressing closer to Star Dune, we were hit with the true magnitude of this challenge. What looked like gently rolling hills were actually monstrous mountains of sand. Due to the constantly shifting sands, there was no set path to follow. Each step took us only half as far as we hoped to go. We did our best to find the path of least resistance, but some dunes were far too large to climb, so instead, we were forced to walk along the side of the dune, fighting with every step to not just slip down into a valley.
The wind howled, blasting sand into our eyes, ears, and every exposed inch of skin. Our mouths were coated in grit, each breath crunching between our teeth. Looking around, we noticed that we were the only backpackers that had pushed past the first set of dunes. Were we completely out of our minds for attempting this?
Despite feeling absolutely miserable, we also felt that rough, rugged excitement that comes from pushing ourselves to do something difficult. This feeling is the reason why we’re addicted to pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones. After what seemed like years, we finally made it to Star Dune, and the exhilaration we felt made the experience worth it.
That is until we remembered we had to actually spend the whole night out here. The wind was picking up, the sky turned dark with storm clouds, and the chill of being at 8,000 feet started to kick in. Were we prepared to sleep in these conditions?
Just as we were about to turn back, the sky cleared, and we found a camping spot shielded from the wind. This was going to be a very uncomfortable night of sleep, but we made it this far, right? Looking up at the stars and listening to the sound of absolute nothingness lulled us into a restless and somewhat painful sleep.
Overall, we were correct in thinking that this would be one of our worst nights of sleep ever, but we woke up in the morning feeling grateful for these new memories we had made…and grateful to be alive, given we found mountain lion tracks 300 yards from where we slept.
To watch our full experience camping on North America’s largest sand dune, check out the video below.
Have we convinced you to add this to your bucket list?
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