Great Sand Dunes
A very unique place, tallest sand dunes in US (750 feet or 229 m) are located in Colorado. At around 2500m elevation at the base, top of the dunes is just about as high as Stelvio. Located in magical San Luis Valley, which is a tectonic gash that splits the southern Rocky Mountains. The San Luis Valley has been called the highest, largest mountain desert in North America, and is the largest high-elevation valley in the world. The valley encompasses about 8000 square miles (~20,000 km2), roughly the size of Massachusetts, and elevations on the valley floor range 7500 to 7800 feet. The surrounding San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges summit over 14,000 feet (>4250 m), which creates an intense rain-shadow effect in the valley.
Region: Colorado
City: Alamosa
Distance: 41.92 km
Elevation Gain: 387 m
Elevation Loss: 283 m
Difficulty: 232 (Easy)
FIETS Index: 0.13 FIETS
Avg Grade: 0.63 %
Max cat climb: 3
Min elevation: 2331 m
Max elevation: 2538 m
Ride Category: Rollers