This is the first know photograph taken of Great Sand Dunes area. In the image is a man and a white house/ cabin in the bottom left corner. Jackson, 1873.
NPS Photo
The first known photograph of the Great Sand Dunes area was taken in 1873. For almost 150 years, locals, rangers, and visitors to this landscape have documented their experiences with their cameras. Below are just a few of the images taken.
Do you have photographs of you, your friends, and your family visiting Great Sand Dunes? If so, share your images on social media and use #DecadesOfDunes.
The 2020s
Milestone memories of the decade:
2020 - Hidden Dune becomes the tallest dune at Great Sand Dunes and in North America at 742 feet from base to top. Star Dune was wittled down by strong winds, droping its height from 755 feet to 741 feet tall from base to top in July of 2020.
2020 - The COVID- 19 global pandemic reached the county of Alamosa, CO. The park and preserve closed due to public health concerns on April 17th, 2020. Both re-opened on June 3rd, 2020.
“As a former park ranger at the Great Sand Dunes, it gives me no pleasure to recommend closure of one of our national treasures, even for a brief period of time. However, it is my duty to protect the people of Alamosa County during this pandemic, and that includes the staff of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and any potential visitors.” ~ Alamosa County Public Health Director Della Cox-Vieira. April 16, 2020.
Park Ranger Melinda M. greets visitors from inside the park's entrance station in early March of 2020.
NPS / Sydney Stover
The starry night sky over the Great Sand Dunes
Photo: Chris Wheeler, 2014
The 2010s
Milestone memories of the decade:
2014 - The United States Mint released the Great Sand Dunes National Park Quarter on August 25, 2014. It honored the park and marked the 24th issue in the America the Beautiful Quarters series that commemorates national sites in the U.S. and its territories.
2019- Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve recieved International Dark-Sky Association Gold-Tier Certification. Viewing the stars above the darkest place in the state of Colorado is now protected for decades to come.
A rare visit to the Trujillo Homestead during a special guided tour in 2017.
NPS Photo
Visitors enjoying a rare guided hike to Twin Lakes in 2014.
2000 - On November 22, 2000, Great Sand Dunes Monument became Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve through an Act of Congress (Public Law 106–530) cited as the ‘‘Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of 2000’.
Oct. 5th, 2000 - Act considered and passed Senate.
Oct. 25, 2020 - Act considered and passed House.
2004 - On September 23, 2004- The Secretary of the Interior (Gale Norton) designated the existing Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve as the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (See 69 F.R. 57355.) after the NPS met the land acquisition requirements laid out in Public Law 106-530.
“Today we dedicate and proclaim a new national park, to forever preserve a landscape sculpted by wind and water, and we introduce what now becomes the largest wildlife refuge in the state of Colorado. This area is a haven for wildlife and a wonder for modern day visitors.” —Gale Norton, Secretary, US Department of the Interior.
Park Scientists survey the dunes in May of 2003
NPS Photo
A family makes a sand sculpture of Jabba the Hutt along the Medano Creek bed at the base on the dunes in 2003.
NPS Photo
The 1990s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1994 - Great Sand Dunes' First Park Geologist is hired by the National Park Service.
1993- On August 13, 1993 the United States Congress designated the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness and it now has a total of 219,899 acres.
This temporary information booth (located at the Dunes Parking Lot in the 1990s) was staffed by park rangers.
NPS Photo
The 1980s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1980
Entrance station to Great Sand Dunes National Monument, circa 1980s
NPS Photo
The 1970s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1976- On October 20, 1976 the U.S. Congress designated the Great Sand Dunes Wilderness—a wilderness area encompassing 32,643 acres (51 sq mi; 132 km2)- within the monument. This wilderness is the only one in the U.S. that protects a saltbush-greasewood ecosystem and includes the entire dunefield as well as much of the area west of the dunes.
Campers enjoying Great Sand Dunes National Monument in 1976.
Visitors picnic at Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Circa 1950s.
NPS Photo
U.S. Army Troops gather at Great Sand Dunes National Monument in 1942 for training and equipment testing prior to the Allied invasion of North Africa.
NPS Photo Archive
The 1940s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1942- A unit of the U.S. Army used the Great Sand Dunes as a place for checking how equipment will work in a desert environment- including jeeps and new camouflage patterns. The desert designed camo was being tested for use preceding the Allied invasion of North Africa later that year.
1946 - On March 12, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signs Proclamation No. 2681 and alters the boundaries of Great Sand Dunes National Monument, "for the preservation of the great sand dunes and additional features of scenic, scientific, and educational interests."
Three women race down the dunes while sitting in cooking pots in the 1940s.
NPS Photo
Linger Family picnic at the dunes in 1935.
NPS Photo
The 1930s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1930- The local Chapter V of the P.E.O. formally decide to seek federal protection for the Great Sand Dunes. The Sand Dunes Committee was founded and Elizabeth Spencer was the lead.
1932- On March 17, 1932, Great Sand Dunes is officially proclaimed a National Monument by authority of President Herbert Hoover. Great Sand Dunes became the 36th National Monument in the National Park system. It was one of 5 approved out of 90 proposals for Monument status in 1932. The original boundaries protected an area of 35,528 acres.
A newspaper clipping shows people attempt to climb the sand dunes in 1932.
Park Ranger and visitors walk along a dry Medano Creek bed, circa 1930s
NPS Photo
Frank Wellington is pictured with two horses on the Great Sand Dunes in the 1920s
1925 - Locals begin the efforts to have the Great Sand Dunes federally protected.
1929- the Volcanic Mining Company built a gold mining mill on the banks of the Medano Creek.
Mining shack on the Medano Creek in the 1920s
NPS Photo
The 1910s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1910 -
The 1900s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1900 -
Julia, Mary, and Ruth sit under a tree near the Great Sand Dunes where their families homesteaded in 1907.
NPS Photo
The 1890s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1890 -
Julia Virginia Herard stands near her family's homestead near the Great Sand Dunes in 1892.
NPS Photo
Sofia Trujillo was adopted into the Teofilo and Maria Trujillo family, eventually marrying their son Pedro in 1885.
Photo Courtesy of the Trujillo family
1880s
Milestone memories of the decade:
1885 - Sofia Trujillo was adopted into the Teofilo and Maria Trujillo family, eventually marrying their son Pedro in 1885. It was a volatile era, with significant cultural tension and occasional violence between the Ute Tribe, Anglo cattle ranchers, and Hispanic sheepherders. In the midst of these threats, Sofia and Pedro raised 16 children and managed their isolated homestead west of the dunes. A complex chain of events culminated in Teofilo's homestead being burned down by a few Anglo ranchers, and much of the Trujillo family moved to the southern part of the valley. Not long after, the Linger family acquired most of the ranching property near the dunes, and reached out to remaining Trujillo family members, offering them friendship and jobs in an era when it was not the norm. Sofia lived until 1950, and witnessed some of this healing between cultures.
Buffalo Soldiers patrolled the Great Sand Dunes region from 1876-1879. In this photo, Oscar Clark of the Buffalo Soldier Association of Wichita portrays an 1870s soldier by a tent during a living history program at Great Sand Dunes in the 2010s.
NPS/ Patrick Myers
1870s
Milestone memories of the decades:
1876- Buffalo Soldiers who patrolled the Great Sand Dunes region from 1876-1879, courageously working to protect both settlers and tribes during a volatile era. Based at nearby Fort Garland, the 9th Cavalry once even evicted white setters who had encroached on recognized Ute tribal lands.
Sketch of a canoe at the base of the dunes in 1872 by Charles Samuel Richardson
NPS Photo
Last updated: March 16, 2021
Park footer
Contact Info
Mailing Address:
Visitor Center
11999 State Highway 150
Mosca,
CO
81146
Phone:
719 378-6395
Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center main number
