Great Sand Dunes National Park with Kids: The Perfect Weekend Camping Adventure

✨ A Weekend of Sand, Stars, and Family Memories

There are some trips that leave you exhausted, dirty, and wondering if you'll ever get all the sand out of your shoes—and somehow those are often the best trips of all.

Recently, our family headed to Great Sand Dunes National Park for a weekend camping adventure with some of our closest friends. Our kids are the same ages (5 and 8) and both families are already the best of friends, making this one of those rare trips where everyone—from the parents to the kids—had an amazing time.

Between sledding down massive sand dunes, cooling off in an icy waterfall, eating incredible camp food, and stargazing under some of Colorado's darkest skies, this trip quickly became one of our favorite family camping weekends. Best of all, the kids were screen-free for over 48 hours and didn’t ask for them once!

Where We Stayed: Pinon Flats Campground ⛺

We stayed at Pinon Flats Campground , located right inside Great Sand Dunes National Park. The campground is divided into three separate loops and offers both RV and tent camping options. There are also several group sites that can accommodate anywhere from 15 to 40 people.

Our friends camped in a really cool rooftop tent mounted on their pickup truck, while we stayed in our 6-person tent. Both setups worked great and made it easy for our two families to comfortably share a single campsite. Our tent was great for our family of four! We had enough room for a queen sized air mattress and two small sleeping pads for the boys. We also had these small memory foam pillows that collapse into a perfect travel size bag that were perfect for the tent!

**Affiliate Link:** Our Family Camping Tent

Every campsite has a bear box for storing food, drinks, and supplies. As a Colorado resident, I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but I have to admit seeing a "bear-proof" storage box made me a little nervous! Luckily, the only wildlife we encountered was much less exciting, and we didn't see a single bear all weekend.

We were pleasantly surprised to see how nice the campground facilities were. The bathrooms have been recently renovated and include:

Flushing toilets
Running water
Heated restrooms
Large dishwashing sink

There are no showers, but for a weekend camping trip, we didn't miss them at all.

Tip: Don't forget your dish soap if you plan to use the washing station. We forgot soap and mostly ended up just rinsing our dishes and doing a full wash when we got home.

One of our favorite things about Pinon Flats was the location. The entrance to Dunes Trail was right near our campsite making the dunes just a ¾-mile walk from “home”, which made it easy to explore them multiple times throughout the weekend

🌄 Friday Night: Sunset on the Dunes

After arriving Friday evening, we quickly set up camp and fired up the Blackstone for dinner.

Hibachi on the Blackstone has become one of our favorite camping meals because it's easy, delicious, and feeds a crowd. We pre-cooked the rice (it’s better cold!) and pre-cut all of our chicken and veggies at home so we just had to fry it all up on the grill when we arrived.

With full bellies, we headed out toward the dunes to catch the sunset.

Nothing prepares you for seeing the dunes in person for the first time. The towering mountains in the background and endless rolling sand make it feel like you've been transported somewhere completely different.

The kids spent the evening running, climbing, and exploring while the sun dipped behind the mountains.

As darkness fell, we started spotting stars and planets overhead. Great Sand Dunes is known for its incredible night skies, and even before full darkness, we could tell we were in for a great night of stargazing.

Back at camp, we relaxed around the fire before turning in for the night.

Saturday Morning: Sand Sledding Adventure

We woke up early Saturday and cooked a classic camping breakfast:

Eggs
Bacon
Pancakes

All made on the trusty Blackstone.

After breakfast, we packed up our gear and headed back to the dunes for sledding. This is the activity we were most looking forward to and it did not disappoint! We used our regular snow sleds which are made of foam- it was so windy we had to remind the kids to hold on to them extra tight while climbing the dunes.

We brought our own sleds, but visitors can also rent sand sleds and sandboards from Oasis just outside the park.

One piece of advice: Go early.

We made sure to get out before 9:00 AM because the sand gets incredibly hot once the sun is up. Sunscreen was also an absolute must.

The kids amazed us with how well they handled the climb. Walking up the dunes is like walking on the beach—but about 100 times harder and there’s no ocean to cool off in when it gets too hot!

After countless climbs and rides down the dunes, we finally called it quits about two hours later and headed back to camp. We also each emptied about a half a cup of sand from each shoe when we got back.

Learning About the Park

After lunch, we stopped by the Visitor Center. I always love the visitors centers at National Parks and this one was no exception! The staff was friendly and informative, the facilities were clean and the kids enjoyed becoming Junior Rangers.

The kids loved learning about:

How the dunes were formed
The animals that call the area home
Native plants and ecosystems
How the dunes continue to shift and change over time

Of course, no National Park visit would be complete without getting our National Park Passport stamped. And if you’re anything like us, you forgot your National Park Passport at home but thankfully they had blank stamps for purchase so we just added the to our book at home!

🥾 Cooling Off at Zapata Falls 🏞️

Next, we made the short 15-minute drive to Zapata Falls.

If you plan to visit, get there early because parking fills up quickly.

The trail to the falls is only about half a mile, making it very manageable for younger kids.

The hike starts out hot and exposed, but as we got closer to the falls, the temperature seemed to drop at least twenty degrees.

The payoff at the end is absolutely worth it.

To reach the waterfall, you'll need to climb through a shallow stream and into a narrow rock opening. The water was absolutely freezing—and exactly what we needed after a hot morning on the dunes.

The kids had a blast splashing through the water and exploring the canyon. We took our time relaxing and stopped for a snack and a drink before heading back to the parking lot.

After hiking back down, everyone promptly fell asleep in the car on the ride back to camp.

Camping Dinner Favorite: Hobo Stew

One of the biggest hits of the weekend was our Hobo Stew dinner.

Everyone built their own foil packet using ingredients like:

Ground beef
Potatoes
Vegetables (peas, carrots, onions, peppers)
Cheese

We wrapped everything in grilling foil and cooked it on the Blackstone.

Pro Tip: Cook the meat and potatoes separately until they're nearly done, then combine everything in the foil packet to finish cooking. It speeds things up and ensures everything cooks evenly.

The build-your-own format made dinner fun for both kids and adults.

✨ Talent Shows, S'mores 🔥, and Stargazing

After dinner, we walked over to the campground amphitheater, located directly across from the campsites.

Earlier in the evening there had been a Navajo dancing performance, which unfortunately we missed.

Thankfully, the kids created their own entertainment. They decided to put on a talent show, and we spent the next hour laughing and cheering them on. One of the best parts of the trip was seeing the kids use their imaginations and play together so well!

Back at camp, it was finally time for s'mores.

Normally we'd build a campfire, but the wind was incredibly strong. Thankfully, our friends brought their Lava Box which made it possible to enjoy s’mores without worrying about the wind, and we quickly added it to our “must purchase before next trip” list.

After sticky marshmallows, chocolate-covered smiles, and one final round of stargazing, the kids headed off for one last sleep in the tent.

We’ll Be Back For More!

There were a few things we didn’t get to do—or couldn’t do on this trip—but are already on our list for next time.

We missed out on splashing in Medano Creek since there wasn’t much snowmelt this season, and we didn’t have time to explore some of the longer hiking trails inside the park.

We also didn’t make it all the way to the top of the dunes this time, mostly because the kids are still a bit too little for that kind of climb. It gives us the perfect excuse to come back again soon

After breakfast on Sunday, we packed up camp, loaded the cars, and began the drive home.

We were tired.

We were dirty.

There was probably sand in places we'll still be finding weeks from now.

But we also came home with incredible memories, stronger friendships, and one more family adventure we'll be talking about for years.

Things We Recommend Bringing

Blackstone Griddle- great for all meals!
Camping Tent
Sand Sleds
Sunscreen
Lava Box Fire Pit
Headlamps- necessary if hiking the dunes at night
National Park Passport Book
Dish Soap
Extra Water
Layers for Cool Evenings

If you're looking for a Colorado camping trip that combines adventure, incredible scenery, kid-friendly activities, and unforgettable night skies, Great Sand Dunes National Park should absolutely be on your list.

Cheers,

𝓜𝓲𝓪 ✨