Welcome to Travel Tuesday! Have you ever been sand sledding? I’ve only been once, in the Coral Pink Sand Dunes when a family took pity on the fact that my ingenious flattened REI cardboard box did not take me down the dunes. We went sand sledding in the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park and it went a lot more smoothly this time!
Sand Sledding in the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park
If you’d like to hike to the tallest dune…
Distance: 2 miles (round trip)
Elevation Gain: 185 ft
Difficulty: Easy (can be considered moderate since it’s sand and it takes considerably more effort than it would if it were a trail)
Location: East of Stovepipe Wells Village (off CA-190)
Parking: Fairly large paved lot with some large spaces for buses/RVs
The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are named for the mesquite tree, which grows its twisty branches to avoid being buried by the sand that’s constantly being blown about. It’s a beautiful place to go stargazing too! (Death Valley National Park is designated as the largest Dark Sky National Park in the country by the International Dark Sky Association.)
If you’re going hiking in the dunes and it’s summertime, please note that it is NOT advised if it’s after 10am! (We went on a November afternoon, so the temperatures were fine.)
Keep in mind that there is really no actual trail here. You can kinda just meander your way through.
If you’re planning on going sandboarding, I’d definitely recommend wearing something to cover your mouth, (e.g. scarf, bandana, etc.) especially if eating sand is not very high on your to-do list.
To avoid unintentional acrobatics, what helped me was to… (1) sit on the board as far back as possible while keeping your feet in front of you and pointed downhill, and (2) lean from side to side + extend my hands out underneath me to “straighten out” if the board started veering to one side.
One of our friends decided to sandboard down in a gingerbread man suit for funsies!!
Also for funsies, we had a sand sledding competition to see who could go the furthest. (I won!!! :D )
Walking back up the giant dune can get pretty tiring. Go barefoot to avoid having what feels like weights for legs!
- Pets aren’t allowed here (not even if you’re carrying them)!
- There are a number of vault toilets available in the parking lot. Please do not leave any toilet paper (or any other trash/trace that you were there) in the dunes.
- We didn’t see any wildlife here, but there are nocturnal kangaroo rats + sidewinder rattlesnakes here. Please watch your step so you don’t disturb their burrows.
- Off-road vehicle travel is not permitted anywhere in the park. (All of the dunes are protected as wilderness!)
- Please note that sledding, sandboarding + sand skiing are all prohibited in Eureka, Hidden, Panamint Valley, + Ibex Sand Dune Systems. It’s allowed at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes + Saline Sand Dunes!
- Have you ever been sand sledding?
- Have you been to Death Valley?
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OMG! That looks like so much fun. Adding it to my bucket list. No idea you could do that in the US!
It was a ton of fun! I’ve seen people doing this at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado as well + the southwest states tend to have more sand-dune-y places where this would be possible! :D!
That looks like great fun!!!
It took some internal pep talking because I was kinda scared (haha), but I’m glad I went! :D It was definitely a ton of fun!
Sand sledding is so much fun and walking back up to do it again and again is such a killer workout! This national park looks epic :)
haha, it defffinitely took exponentially longer to come back up than it did to get down there (but yes on a great workout :P )!
Farrah recently posted…Sand Sledding in the Mesquite Sand Dunes
What an exciting adventure! I really want to try it sooner. Thank you for this guide.
I hope you get to sometime! :D It was a lot of fun!
Farrah recently posted…Sand Sledding in the Mesquite Sand Dunes
What an exciting adventure! I really want to try it sooner. Thank you for your helpful tips as well.
Alona recently posted…20 Amazing Things To Do In Kuta, Bali
I hope you get to go sometime! :]
Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: January 2024
Such a blast!!! I’d love to the gingerbread man go down!! 🤣 great tip to leave the dog at home!!
hahaha, that was my favorite part (other than winning :D..)! Very effective way to avoid eating sand too! :P
Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: January 2024
These sand dunes have been on my bucket lists for years!! Hoping it happens in 2025..saving this post for planning!
Ooo, I hope you get to go then! :D Have lots of fun!
Farrah recently posted…Sand Sledding in the Mesquite Sand Dunes
I never knew about this place, but it looks so much fun! I love the idea of sand-sledding! I’ve sent it over to my son so he can give it a try while he’s in the US for uni!
Ooo, I think he’ll like it! :D If he can’t come here, the southwestern-ish states tend to have more sand-dune-y places to go (e.g. White Sands National Park in New Mexico, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah, Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado)! :]
Farrah recently posted…Sand Sledding in the Mesquite Sand Dunes
This looks like so much fun! I love that your friend went down in the gingerbread costume!
haha, we definitely got a kick outta that! :D
Farrah recently posted…Sand Sledding in the Mesquite Sand Dunes
I’ve watched my kids (and others) sandboard in New Zealand, and I’ve seen sand skiing in Morocco. I didn’t know that they did similar things in Death Valley. I was there years ago and didn’t hear about it back then.
Maybe it’s a more recent thing — I’d never heard of it around there much until a few years back! :]
That sounds like a lot of fun! I spend a lot of time at Sleeping Bear Dunes, and I once saw someone ski one one of the dunes. It looks like fun, but I bet the climb back up the dune is exhausting.
Sleeping Bear Dunes looks beautiful! I’ve never been. *-*
Going back up was definitely a great workout!
Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: January 2024
Wait so what kind of board do you need?
Super sorry for the reallyy late reply, but we used boogie boards! :]
Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: March 2024
Did you use a boogy board as the sled? Thanks!
Yep, boogie board is the way to go! I tried using a flattened cardboard box at a different sand dune and it was very disappointing for me and everyone watching me rooting for my success, haha.