Eureka Dunes

Rising to an abrupt 680 feet above the valley floor, the Eureka Dunes in northern Death Valley National Park are the tallest sand dunes in California and quite possibly the tallest in North America.

Eureka Dunes are also the most likely of the dune ranges in the region (the others being the Kelso and Panamint Dunes) where you may, if conditions are right, hear the phenomena known as “the singing sands”, in which the sand grains produce a booming sound akin to a small engine plane passing as they fall.

Eureka Dunes lie in the remote Eureka Valley, which is the far untravelled end of Death Valley National Park, a park which covers an area twice the size of Rhode Island and which is not heavily patrolled. Though the dunes are easy to get to on the paved road from Big Pine, you should be prepared to be there alone so be sure to take along the essentials (water, food, spare tire, etc.) just in case.