(For my full review of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, see this link.)
On our annual trip to the Sand Dunes we saw worse weather than we have before (Saturday’s winds kept us from getting to the top of the High Dune), but Nic and I both noticed that the campground just gets more popular each year. It’s still possible to get a spot late Friday afternoon, and many people still treat the campground as a one night destination (meaning spots can be found Saturday morning as people leave), but their numbers are smaller. In 2016 the campsites are $20, and the facilities include water, heated bathrooms (no showers), but unfortunately they have permanently closed all of the dishwashing stations. They ask you not to wash dishes in the bathroom, not at the water spigots, and have boarded up the dishwashing stations. This is a campground to bring paper plates to!
The weather was on the cooler side Friday, but still enjoyable for the kids to play in the water. With the weekday and the temps, we once again had the dunes to ourselves. With the forecast for strong wind, we stayed in the interior of the campground loop for the first time. The kids loved the great trees for climbing on our site, and we loved being able to hang up our two hammocks. Hopefully next year will bring better weather, but if not it’s still a beautiful location for a low key camping weekend!
