Hiking the Sand Pit Trail in Great Sand Dunes National Park
Distance: 1.2 miles / 1.9 km
The Sand Pit Trail in Great Sand Dunes National Park is a beautiful, fun, and relatively easy adventure that is often overlooked by most who visit Great Sand Dunes to explore the dune field.
By this, I mean that I like to think of the Sand Pit Trail as a great alternative point of access to the much more popular Medano Creek Trailhead, where the High Dune and Star Dune Trails begin.
To this point, the Sand Pit Trail is also a great access trail to some of the Great Sand Dunes’ best backcountry adventures, such as backcountry camping and the remote Hidden Dune, which you can learn more about at the end of this article.
Sand Pit Trailhead Parking
The Sand Pit Trailhead is located at the Point of No Return, about 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from the point where the pavement ends on Medano Pass Primitive Road.
That being said, there is a parking area closer to the dune field, about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) past the pavement. However, this trailhead is past the Point of No Return, which is reserved for 4WD vehicles only.
This is all to say that the pavement ends near the Piñon Flats Campground, but most vehicles should be able to make it as far as the Point of No Return, provided that the road is in good condition and is snow-free.
Google Maps Directions: Sand Pit Trailhead
Hiking Checklist - Great Sand Dunes
Here is a complete list of must-have things that you will want for any hike in Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Hiking the Sand Pit Trail
The Sand Pit Trailhead can be found just past the Point of No Return parking area, on the left-hand side of the road.
For the most part, the Sand Pit Trail follows a relatively easy and straightforward downhill path directly toward the sand dunes, with Mt. Herald towering above the dune field in the distance.
Throughout much of the spring, summer, and early fall, wildflowers can be enjoyed throughout Great Sand Dunes National Park, and the Sand Pit Trail can be one of the best places to enjoy them!
Sand Pit Picnic Area Junction
After about 0.3 miles (0.5 km), the Sand Pit Trail splits for the only time with the trail that leads to the Sand Pit Picnic Area.
This is the much closer trailhead mentioned previously, where 4WD vehicles have the option to park closer to Medano Creek and the dune field.
That being said, go left to stay on the more trafficked side of the Sand Pit Trail, which leads to Medano Creek shortly ahead.
As the Sand Pit Trail nears Medano Creek, the trail will begin descending a short hill, followed immediately by the crossing.
Medano Creek
Whether beginning here or at the Medano Creek Trailhead, where the High Dune and Star Dune Trails begin, Medano Creek is the infamous right of passage to get to the dune field.
With that said, Medano Creek typically flows across the Sand Pit Trail much later in the season compared to the dune field access point on the High Dune Trail, due entirely to the fact that it is located further upstream.
There’s no straightforward way across Medano Creek, but these photos from late in the season show a relatively easy crossing compared to how it can appear at different times of the year.
On the far side of Medano Creek, visitors have the option to hike in any number of directions, with most climbing the nearby foothills in order to go sledding down the first few smaller dunes.
This is the end of the Sand Pit Trail, which is the foothills of the expansive 30-square-mile dune field.
Hidden Dune Trail
Past the end of the Sand Pit Trail, hikers can continue exploring the dune field in any number of directions, with the most popular destination being the Hidden Dune.
That said, the Sand Pit Trail is the best access point in Great Sand Dunes National Park to hike to Hidden Dune, a very remote sand dune in the heart of the 30-square-mile dune field that is in constant competition with Star Dune for being the tallest in North America.
However, I don’t recommend comparing the hike to Hidden Dune with Star Dune, as the Hidden Dune is more remote, less trafficked, and harder to find in comparison. But, just like the detailed instructions I gave for hiking to Star Dune, I have also written an entirely separate article about the best and most efficient route to Hidden Dune.
I made mistakes when I visited for the first time, but thanks to my experience, I can now share the best and most straightforward trail through the dune field in my separate article.
Read My Separate Post: Hidden Dune Trail
