Closed Sand Dune Areas
Eureka Dunes
Eureka Dunes are closed to vehicles
Location: Eastern California. Inyo County. Accessible by most
standard vehicles via the Death Valley/Big Pine Road. From the Ubehebe Crater
Road you must travel 44 miles of graded dirt to the dunes. From the town of Big
Pine there are 28 miles of paved road and 2l miles of graded dirt to the dunes.
The final 10 miles of both routes is the narrow South Eureka Road. During
inclement weather, all access to Eureka Dunes can be closed or limited.
GPS Coordinates: 37° 5'4.30"N, 117°40'25.88"W
Managed By: National Park Service. The dunes were managed by the BLM
until 1994 when passage of the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA) of 1994
transferred the area to the National Park Service (NPS) at Death Valley National
Park. Designated as a Wilderness Area.
Size: 3 miles long, 1.5 miles wide
Date of Closure: The BLM closed the dunes
to OHV use in 1976, although active enforcement of the closure wasn’t
effective until 1980. In 1984 the Department of the Interior designated
the dunes as a Natural Landmark, and the area was put into the Death Valley
National Park with the passage of the California
Desert Protection Act 1994.
Type of Closure: Permanent
Reason for Closure:
Other information:
The Eureka Dunes lie in the remote Eureka
Valley, an enclosed basin at 3000 foot elevation located northwest of Death
Valley. The dunes cover an area only 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, yet they are
the tallest sand dunes in California, and second tallest in all of North America
(beat out by the dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park). They rise suddenly more than 680 feet above the dry lakebed at their
western base.
The reason for the dunes' obscurity is relatively simple:
getting to them requires driving about 40 miles of dirt roads. Even though the
roads are well maintained, and usually passable to regular passenger vehicles, a
relatively small number of people brave the trek, which is exactly what makes
the dunes such a coveted destination for the few souls adventurous enough to
visit them.
One of the few Booming
Dunes in the United States.
Endangered or Threatened Species:
-
Eureka Dunes evening primrose (Oenothera californica
ssp. eurekensis); Federal Status: Endangered, 1978
-
Eureka Valley dune grass (Swallenia alexandrae);
Federal Status: Endangered, 1978
-
Shining Locoweed (Astragalus lentiginosus micans);
Federal Status: Candidate
Links:
Other Photos:
Steel Pass Rd. - Eureka Dunes to Saline Valley Hot Springs
Eureka Dunes from Southwest Airlines jet
Click to enlarge
Back to Closed Dunes
Back to Sand Dune Guide |
