How To: pitch your tent in the sand

I admit, I’ve had a lot of trouble motivating myself to sit down and write my next post, which is why you haven’t heard from me in a couple weeks. I’ve been stubbornly sticking to my original plan of writing about my adventures in chronological order, and as a person who likes things to be in order, I find myself wanting to keep going in this fashion.

But I also find myself wanting to completely scrap that plan and start sharing with you all of our amazing adventures since we moved to Colorado this summer (connect with me on instagram to follow along in real time). I’ve been out camping or hiking every single weekend since July 7, and everything I’ve seen has just been so stunningly beautiful! I don’t know how I can ever pick a “coolest thing” we’ve done this summer, but if I had to narrow it down our adventure from two weekends ago is definitely near the top.

So, I’ve decided to compromise and write up the next post in my “How To” series, giving me the chance to share some newfound knowledge and squeeze in a few photos from last weekend without completely upending my chronological order plan.

At this point, you may be glancing back up to the title of this post and wondering where in the world we pitched a tent in sand in Colorado? And some of you who are familiar with Colorado may have just realized the probable answer to this question: Great Sand Dunes National Park.

If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it! It’s one of my favorite national parks, simply because it’s so freaking cool to have a giant field of massive sand dunes at the base of 13,000 foot (3900 m) mountains. To make for an even more amazing experience, they give out a limited number of permits that allow you to spend the night on the dunes! As soon as I learned this, I was determined to score a permit and experience the utter peace, beauty, and solitude of having the dunes almost completely to ourselves.

(Spoiler alert: it was more peaceful and amazing than we could have imagined)

We arrived at the visitor center right as it opened the Saturday before last and managed to snag the first permit of the day (apparently – as we’ve now learned – in the off season you don’t need to wake up at 4:30 am for this). (Update: as of 2021, permits are now reserved in advance through recreation.gov.)

We spent the morning touring the visitor center and relaxing on the edge of the dune field before packing up our packs and heading out mid-afternoon for our trek up and over the first ridge of dunes (this is the day-use area; backpackers must clear this area, but can then pitch their tent anywhere on the remainder of the dune field).

When planning an overnight trip on the dunes, there were a couple important things we had to consider. First was the fact that there’s no water on the dunes, so we had to carry all we’d need. Second was the fact that we’d be pitching our tent on sand, so the typical method of securing it with stakes wouldn’t work.

Some internet research told me that the solution to our problem was sand bags. I’m sure they actually make and sell specific sand bags and other pitching-a-tent-in-the-sand tools, but we didn’t particularly feel like spending money on these items so we improvised and did it for free and it was a success!

Step 1: save up your old bread/bagel/English muffin bags (and rinse them well to avoid having your tent area smell like food)

Step 2: stash the bags and a plastic trowel in your backpack

Step 3: pitch your tent without using stakes

Step 4: pull the guylines into place to determine where to dig your hole in the sand (we miscalculated the first two… it’s not quite the same as using a stake so it may take a couple tries to get the cord pulled taut enough)

Step 5: dig a hole in the sand, depositing the removed sand into a bread bag

Step 6: tie the bag to the guyline and drop it into the hole

Step 7: bury the bag and pack it down (Pat stepped on them to make sure they were in there nice and firmly)

Step 8: repeat for all the guylines and, voilà! Your tent is pitched!

Step 9: prepare to get sand all up in everything, no matter how well you brush yourself off before entering the tent

Well, there you have it. How to pitch a tent in the sand.

And now, because we really did have such an amazing weekend out there on the dunes, a few more of my favorite photos!

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

The Important Stuff:

• Getting there: Great Sand Dunes National Park is located in south-central Colorado near the town of Alamosa
• Fees & passes: $20/car for a 7-day entry fee to the park + $6 to reserve a backcountry permit through recreation.gov
• Hiking: it’s a minimum 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to crest the first ridge of the dunes and cross out of the day use area
• Other: Following proper backcountry and Leave No Trace protocols is very important while out on the dunes. Park rules dictate (1) no campfires, (2) use of a bear canister, and (3) you must bury human waste 6 inches (15 cm) beneath the surface AND pack out all toilet paper