Tick It Before You Kick It
Dive into the waves of wanderlust with The Bucket List Mermaid! Join our adventurous host as she takes you on a thrilling journey through the world's most epic adventure bucket list experiences. Alongside sharing the ins and outs of ticking off bucket list adventures, The Bucket List Mermaid also sprinkles in anecdotes, hilarious mishaps, and heartwarming moments from other adventurer's globetrotting escapades as well as her own. It's like chatting with your mermaid BFF about all the crazy adventures waiting to be conquered! Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or just dreaming of your next escapade, this podcast is your ultimate guide to living life to the fullest and making every day an adventure!
Tick It Before You Kick It
How to Sandboard at Great Sand Dunes National Park
Ready to snowboard without freezing temperatures? Sandboarding and sand sledding at the Great Sand Dunes offers exactly that—an adrenaline-pumping adventure where you trade snow for sand and still get all the thrills!
READ THE FULL SANDBOARDING GUIDE 👉 https://thebucketlistmermaid.com/sandboarding-the-great-sand-dunes-review-and-guide/
⌛️As someone who recently conquered these magnificent dunes, let me share everything you need to know before strapping in.
🇺🇸The Great Sand Dunes National Park hosts North America's tallest sand dunes, creating the perfect playground for this unique activity. You don't need to be Shaun White to enjoy it—just basic balance, a willingness to learn, and most importantly, the acceptance that sand will become your closest companion (I'm still finding it everywhere!).
☀️Unlike traditional snow sports, sandboarding requires specific gear designed for sand, not snow.
💸You can't rent equipment from the park directly, so plan ahead and secure your board or sled from nearby vendors like the Oasis or shops in Alamosa.
📝The technique differs slightly too—you'll lead with your dominant foot, lean back more than in snowboarding, and need to wax your board after every run.
😜While falling is inevitable (trust me, I emerged looking like a "sugar-coated donut"), the exhilaration of carving down massive dunes makes every grain of sand worth it.
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But that's okay. I came out of it looking like a sugar-coated donut and that's fine. I accepted my fate. Hello, adventurers, and welcome back to Take it Before you Kick it. The podcast where we talk about everything that should be on your adventure bucket list, and today we are hitting the sand, literally. That's right. We are going to be talking about the Great Sand Dunes and, more specifically, sandboarding and sand sledding. If you've ever wanted to snowboard without the cold or you just wanted an adrenaline pumping activity in Great Sand Dunes National Park, then this is probably for you. I recently hit the dunes myself and let me tell you it was such a fun experience and I cannot wait to talk about it so that you can also check it off your adventure bucket list. But before you grab a board and start shredding that sand, let's talk about what you need to know some tips and tricks and my experience with sand sledding.
Speaker 0:So, getting started, what exactly is sandboarding? Think about it as snowboarding, except you're on the sand. It's a very, very hard concept to grasp and instead of carving down those powdery slopes, you are instead carving down sand. Now, the Great Sand Dunes are home to some of the tallest sand dunes in North America. So this makes it a prime spot to go sandboarding or sand sledding. Now, before we get started answering the question, no, you do not need to be a snowboarder. Trust me, I am not a Sean White myself, but I still had fun. Honestly, if you can balance, you can lean into some turns and, most importantly, if you are okay with eating a lot of sand, you will be a-okay. Now, as an alternative, you can also go sand sledding. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is sledding, but on the sand, where you kind of just sit on a board, versus quote-unquote strapping yourself into a board. So we will be talking about the differences between this and what is right for you.
Speaker 0:Now, unlike snowboarding and skiing, you cannot rent it from the park directly, and I actually heard a lot of people getting really mad about this because they thought they could rent a sandboard or a sand sled, but you actually have to rent it before you enter the park. There's a place in Alamo so that you can go. And then also, for me, I RV full time, so I was staying at the Oasis and I just rented all my gear from there. I would recommend it. It was like five minutes away from there. I would recommend it. It was like five minutes away. Can you use a normal snowboard or a sled? I did actually see this and I would not recommend it. It will not cut it. You need specific gear that is made for letting you glide over sand, not snow, because they are very different.
Speaker 0:So where do you go in the Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to sand sled or sand board? Now, honestly, you can kind of just go to the main area. It is a little bit of a walk out there and there was a lot of people going all around and sandboarding. Now you can hike, although I must tell you that hiking in the sand is very, very hard. I actually ended up spontaneously hiking all the way up to the top and I thought I was no longer going to exist at a few points. It's hard, trust me, especially if you're going in the summer. You can just hike to the little area. You will see all the other people sandboarding. It's a very common activity and you can just go there.
Speaker 0:So here are the steps that I learned from sandboarding, and I got this from the National Park as well as the Oasis, like the store that I rented from. So step one. You are going to climb up to the dune that you want to sandboard down. Step two wax the board. Now, unlike the other things, I actually ended up waxing it after every single run and he kind of explained it to me like you do a crayon, so you like scribble a crayon all over everything. It was kind of fun. I felt like a little kid.
Speaker 0:But you have to wax your board. Next, with the board pointed down, you lead with your dominant foot. Now, this is kind of different from snowboarding. You, you lead with your dominant foot. Now, this is kind of different from snowboarding. You have to shift your weight in a different way, but you actually lean your body weight back and then start to go down and literally just stay on there as far as you possibly can. Now, if you are feeling extra talented in this, you can start putting weight on your heels and your toes and you can start to carve like a snowboard. However, it does feel a little bit different, so keep that in.
Speaker 0:Now, if you do start to feel unstable, start to bend your knees and try to carve for as long as you can until you gracefully fall and get sand everywhere. Spoiler alert you will fall. Just just accept it. Sand will be everywhere. I'm still finding sand from this it's. It's just a part of the experience and deal with it. And if you are going to fall, try to aim to fall on your butt versus your face. Trust me, you'll thank me later. I fell on my face and I again just ate the sand. I feel like the guy from Star Wars who's like I don't like sand, it's coarse and it gets everywhere. I am that guy.
Speaker 0:Now, sand sledding is a lot easier. You literally just point it down and you just go. Now it is an absolute blast, but it is a workout For any epic ride down. You're gonna have to hike all the way back up. That's just how it goes. It's like doing a stairmaster at the gym, except with way better views. At one point, I ended up taking the sandboard, putting it into the board and using it to pull myself up on the sand and then repeat Like I was literally just climbing up this mountain. Trust me, do not underestimate it. Bring tons of water, bring sun protection, because you're going to need it Now.
Speaker 0:Should you sandboard or sand sled? I'd say, if you have any experience surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding I think you would pick it up faster than a person who's never done those things, or if you just want to try something new. Personally, I like sandboarding better than sand sledding because I thought it was more exhilarating. However, if you're just looking to just quickly check it off your bucket list, do it. I would recommend sand sledding, especially if you don't want to fall as much. Actually, that's a total lie. I feel like I fell equal amounts on both, so you're gonna fall either way, but that's okay. I came out of it looking like a sugar coated donut and that's fine. I accepted my fate.
Speaker 0:Now, if you are looking on where to write gear, what time to go and all the nitty-gritty details of sandboarding and sand sledding at the Great Sand Dunes, I would highly recommend checking out my blog post article. I wrote an entire guide as well as a vlog on my actual experience with sandboarding, so if you are interested in learning more, that guide is going to be a great resource for you to check it off your bucket list. So would you try sandboarding at the Great Sand Dunes? I want to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 0:If you have already checked this off your bucket list, I would love to see you doing it. And again, if you are planning your own sandboarding adventure. Definitely make sure to check out that guide on thebucketlessmermaidcom for all of the information and, again, if you do do this, definitely share it, tag me. I would love to see your epic rides and those epic fails. That's it for today's episode of Ticket. Before you Kick it, if you did enjoy this episode, it would mean the world to this traveling mermaid if you left a review or subscribed on your favorite podcasting platform. Until next time, keep chasing those bucket list dreams.