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| Eureka Dunes   | 
| Page Type: Area/Range Location: California, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 37.10140°N / 117.6697°W Activities: Hiking Season: Spring, Fall, Winter Elevation: 3540 ft / 1079 m | Page By: Bob Sihler Created/Edited: Oct 18, 2006 / Feb 17, 2008 Object ID: 236282 Hits: 1500 Loading... Page Score: 90.45% - 27 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Overview
Depending on what guidebook you read, either the Eureka Dunes in California’s vast, wonderful, and amazingly diverse Death Valley National Park or the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado are the highest in North America. Personally, I think the Great Sand Dunes are higher and a little prettier, but the Eureka Dunes have some great things going for them, besides their height, that the Great Sand Dunes don’t—for starters, they are perhaps the most remote major dunes in the Lower 48 (if they’re not, other Death Valley dune fields like Saline Valley or Ibex probably are). After the Kobuk Valley Dunes in Alaska, they may be the most remote major sand dunes in all America. And a climb to the top of the Eureka Dunes will confirm that you are in a very special, beautiful place, and they lack the beach-like atmosphere commonly found during the summer at the Great Sand Dunes.
The highpoint of the Eureka Dunes rises about 700 feet from the base of the dunes. Hikers in good shape will want to give themselves at least an hour to get to the top, and finding the way is easy—climb the steep slopes until you reach a ridgeline, where the added stability will give you better footing, and keep following the ridgelines until you reach the top. Then enjoy the awesome desert wilderness all around you.
The Eureka Dunes are also known as “singing dunes”—at certain times, the wind blows the sand in a way such that it makes a whistling sound similar to a high-pitched tune. I have never been lucky enough to hear it, which may be excuse enough to justify going back.
These dunes, like all others, are wonderful at dawn and sunset. They take on a deep golden glow, and the curves, shadows, and striations on the sands will make amateur and pro photographers alike burn a lot of film. Never head into the dunes without at least one full roll of film (or whatever the digital equivalent is).
Getting There
There are two primary ways to approach the road into Eureka Valley. From Big Pine to the west, follow Big Pine Road (it heads east just north of town) for 38 miles until you reach the intersection with the Eureka Valley road. Up to this point, the road is paved most of the way and is easily passable to passenger cars. It is also a very pretty trip through some canyons and a large Joshua Tree forest. Stop and look back west for fine views of the unforgettable face of the eastern Sierra Nevada.
From Grapevine in Death Valley, turn west toward Ubehebe Crater and Racetrack Road (go to both if you have time) and turn right onto a well-maintained gravel road for five miles. Although subject to some washboard spots, this is a good road, and you follow it for 35 miles to the Eureka Valley road. Avoid the right turn onto a 4WD road at Crankshaft Junction.
Follow the Eureka Valley road south for ten miles until you see a large parking area on the north side of the dunes, which will have been clearly visible for most of this stretch of driving. Park here unless you have a 4WD vehicle. Maps recommend high clearance for the drive down to the dunes, but most passenger cars can make the trip with little trouble. Just remember to have a good spare tire or two and plenty of gas—help is far away and expensive out here. Check your water, snacks, and film, and then cross the sagebrush flats to begin climbing. There may be several other cars and people out here, but it’s unlikely to be truly crowded except maybe on a gorgeous spring weekend when lots of people are out of school.
Another, more rugged approach is via Steele Pass from Saline Valley, where there are low sand dunes at the base of the Inyo Mountains. Maps indicate that this approach involves deep sand in places and requires experienced 4-wheel drivers. I drove through the sandy areas in a stock Explorer 4WD in 2003 and had no trouble, but I didn’t try Steele Pass since there had been heavy rain (for Death Valley) and snow the day before, and some higher roads were supposedly difficult or impassable as a result.Red TapeIt costs $20 for a week-long permit to enter the national park. There are no entrance stations, so you are on your honor to go to a visitor center and pay the fee. This is impractical to do if you enter from Big Pine, but truly honorable people will write a check and a note and send them to the park headquarters. There is no other special red tape—do be aware that vehicles are prohibited on the dunes, though.
Avoid this area in summer. The heat can be around 120 Fahrenheit, and heatstroke and heat exhaustion are real threats. Early spring and late fall are the best, but winter would be nice if slightly chilly—snowstorms could occasionally prevent access from Big Pine, though, as the road crosses through the northern end of the Inyo Mountains on the way to the lower elevations.
CampingThere are no established campgrounds anywhere close; Mesquite Spring, about 55 miles away, is the closest. But one of the great things about Death Valley is that you can camp almost anywhere as long as you’re out of sight of a paved road. Burning the little wood in the area is a bad idea, though, and ground fires of any kind are likely to leave unsightly scars.
Why Post Dunes?
Should a sand dune be posted as either an area/range or a mountain/rock? Technically, perhaps not, but what if it’s a high, stable dune that has stature and character, appears on maps, and even has a highpoint identified by places such as Topozone? When those are the case, I argue that a particular dune should be included.
The Eureka Dunes and their pinnacle are not, after all, low, rolling dunes like those at the fantastically beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The Eureka Dunes are like small mountains, and climbing to their apex is more taxing than the standard routes of many well-known mountains (think Mount Evans in Colorado, for example). Also, the rise from the base of the dunes to their summit, all of which the hiker must cover, is more than that between some recognized Colorado fourteeners and the saddles connecting them to the nearest officially recognized peaks. And after all, the dunes are remnants of the mountains around them. One could argue that extending that idea means sandy beaches could be called mountains then, too, but that seems to be missing the point. Anyway, your eyes and experiences will tell you whether steep, challenging dunes like the Eureka Dunes, Kelso Dunes, and High and Star Dunes (from Great Sand Dunes, Colorado) “count” as climbs. Most people’s lungs and legs will say that they do.
Because the Eureka Dunes, to the best of my knowledge, do not contain any named dunes as the Great Sand Dunes do, I chose to post the Eureka Dunes as an Area/Range submission rather than as a Mountain/Rock, which SP says should be a peak, crag, wall, or boulder. That could get us back to arguing whether a prominent, steep, and particularly high dune is a peak, but this page has done enough of that already.
I have removed what I think seemed to be the strongest of the defensive-sounding text a couple of people have alluded to in the comments section. They were right, and I'd rather this page have a positive tone. I just hope visitors to this page will find the writing coherent, the images pleasing, and the information accurate and helpful. A favorable vote is, of course, welcome, but it would be a better compliment if this page inspired someone to visit this area and/or helped somebody to plan a successful trip.The Neighborhood-- Last Chance Range Images
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Death Valley
