I don't know if it's allowed, but this is where we slept in our car, just outside the park.
A shot of one of the several early risers that took advantage of the beautiful sunrise light.
This is Medano Creek, a shallow creek that runs in the spring due to the snow melt from the Sangre De Cristo mountains to the north. You have to wade through it to get to the dunes from the parking lot.
Medano Creek partially freezes in the morning (when I was there at the end of April) so it makes it tricky to get to the dunes. Fortunately for me, it makes for some cool patterns on the sand.
It's difficult to photograph the dunes because you leave footprints everywhere you go. Not to mention all the other footprints from the hundreds of other visitors.
It was interesting to see the wind erasing my freshly made footprints. It was also nerve racking to change lenses with all the sand flying around!
A shot Alissa (my wife) took of me while we hiked to the top of the dunes in mid morning. It was cold and windy up there, but a beautiful sight.
Shoes get a bit sandy while hiking. It's best to wear boots!
There are deer, elk, coyotes, rabbits, kangaroo rats, and several kinds of birds in the park. Supposedly there are bears and mountain lions but of course I didn't see any.
A shot of the night sky, next to the highway where we slept in our car. I was getting the camera set up to do a 2-hour continuous exposure for star trails. The sand dunes are just underneath the mountain silhouette but you can't really see them here. There were elk roaming the grass in the foreground and coyotes hauling off in the distance.
Here is the finished product after two hours.