Closest Dunes to Dallas

[Scott-Tx]

greetings, i'm hoping some of you can suggest the closest place to shoot big sand dunes from dallas texas. i know of Monahans State Park at a distance of ~400 miles and Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado at ~700 miles. just wondering if there are any closer.

thanks,
scott

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Not that I have ever come across but if you look in Nevada there is a big old Sand Dune in the North East part of the state. I AM TALKING BIG!!!
http://www.duneguide.com/sand_dune_g...ucca_dunes.htm
Now there are dunes here but there is a smaller area of larger dunes not that far away and then you have the Great Sand Dunes in California.

Sand Dunes are kryptonite to camera equipment! Most of these dunes are very fine sand and when the wind picks up at all you can expect grit to enter every nook and cranny of your equipment.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by Scott-Tx

greetings, i'm hoping some of you can suggest the closest place to shoot big sand dunes from dallas texas. i know of Monahans State Park at a distance of ~400 miles and Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado at ~700 miles. just wondering if there are any closer.

thanks,
scott

There's Beaver Oklahoma but it's 400 miles also.

Then there's White Sands in New Mexico.

[brad]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

Then there's White Sands in New Mexico.

White Sands rocks, but it is an 8 hour drive... if you go, don't let MapQuest or whatever take you through El Paso, that's the LONG way... there is a State highway that ends up being more or less a straight shot.

[engstrom]

Originally Posted by brad

White Sands rocks, but it is an 8 hour drive... if you go, don't let MapQuest or whatever take you through El Paso, that's the LONG way... there is a State highway that ends up being more or less a straight shot.

380 west to Plains, TX where 82 splits off and goes to White Sands, NM?

[brad]

Originally Posted by engstrom

380 west to Plains, TX where 82 splits off and goes to White Sands, NM?

That sounds right.. goes up through the mountains, past something called Cloudcroft, NM? Elevation like 8600 ft before you go down the mountain into Alamogordo.

[Patton]

White Sands would be the place to go. But I think I would wait til it gets a little warmer, the sand is really cold even in the summer time.

Sime great scenery along the way and possibly places to shoot. But watch out for the deer if driving at night.

Howard

[Gordon]

You could hop on a plane and get to Vegas - then about a 4 hour drive would take you to Death Valley N.P. I think in general though, White Sands is probably the closest for a very loose definition of 'close'. I really want to get out to White Sands. From what I've heard though, if you want to get in to the dunes early enough for good light, you have to pay quite a bit (about $70 per hour earlier than the park's normal opening time ? ) The Luminous Landscape has several good articles about shooting at White Sands N.P. that are worth reading.


Dunes near Stovepipe Wells, DVNP, Nov 2004

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by Patton

White Sands would be the place to go. But I think I would wait til it gets a little warmer, the sand is really cold even in the summer time.

Sime great scenery along the way and possibly places to shoot. But watch out for the deer if driving at night.

Howard

Might want to try to be there when the park is up on nights with a full moon and have a tripod .

http://www.ruidoso.net/visitors/outdoors/whitesan.html

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Sand Dunes are kryptonite to camera equipment! Most of these dunes are very fine sand and when the wind picks up at all you can expect grit to enter every nook and cranny of your equipment.

I found that sand wasn't too bad for camera equipment if you are reasonably prepared. I shot in a 30 mph sandstorm and my camera came out of it just fine with some care. (A Canon D60 without weather sealing)

I had pockets full of large quantities of sand and was picking it out of my ears for days afterwards but my camera was fine.

Tips:
Don't ever put a camera bag down directly on the sand. Carry some large heavy duty trash bags to put down.
Keep everything in the bags in ziploc bags for double protection.
Don't change lenses out in the dunes.
Use a UV filter to protect the lens coating from blowing sand

On the day with the sandstorm blowing, I just took my camera with one lens on it and a tripod - left the bag behind in the car. I was shooting for about an hour, a few inches above the sand in the blowing grit and my camera was fine. Was pretty careful about blowing off all the sand prior to changing the lens though.

[rwwright]

there is a dune west of odessa that i thought was monahans but may be a different name. it is on the texas map. i did not think it was 400 miles away, closer to 200?????

willing to be wrong on the distance

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by rwwright

there is a dune west of odessa that i thought was monahans but may be a different name. it is on the texas map. i did not think it was 400 miles away, closer to 200?????

willing to be wrong on the distance

Nothing in West Texas is closer than 200 miles.

That's most likely the Kermit Dunes.

http://www.duneguide.com/sand_dune_guide_kermit.htm

It's next to the Monahans Park. The County it's in is named for my wife's 2nd Great Grandfather.

[jerrykr]

Go to Whitesboro, Tx. about 75 miles north of DFW. Take 377 north to Lake Texoma. Cross the Willis bridge into Oklahoma. Just across the bridge there are some pretty large sand hills on the west side of 377. You have to find a side road off 377 and drive west a mile or two. The 4x4's played on them years ago when I used to live up there. They basically go from the "sandy beach" on the lake back to the north.

These are nowhere near as big as Great Sand Dunes, but close enough to go check them out.

Disclaimer: I have not been there in years, so I do not know if you would still have access. I believe that the land is owned by Corp of Engineers, which is part of the lake and public, but I am not certain.

Hope this helps.

-=- Jerry -=-
/*

[rwwright]

i checked the map and i was thinking about monahans and it is about 400 miles from dallas.

[Joshua]

Monahans sand dunes are pretty cool. I use to live in Midland and on the weekends we would go out there and ride four wheelers and dirt bikes through the dunes. There is a lot of vegetation on the dunes so it would be hard for you to get a pure dune look like Gordons image.

I would suggest white sands, nm. if you are going to make the drive might as well be worth it. The dunes in that area are large and have awesome back drops. You can see mountain ranges in the distance from pretty much any direction.