Eureka Dunes

The Eureka Dunes are some of the highest dunes in North America, rising more than 680 feet above the floor of Eureka Valley, and are an imposing mountain of sand against the stark Last Chance Mountains. These dunes are the highest in California and are unique for the otherworldly tone they produce.  In certain conditions these dunes hum or boom with a sound that resonates through the entire valley, an etherial vibration that appears out of the arid desert.

In the hot summers of Death Valley, or Eureka Valley more specifically, temperatures often reach above 120˚F, or 50˚C,  and when the temperatures reach this hot during the day, booms can form on dunes higher than 120 feet high and with slopes of a least 30˚. When sand is disturbed, falling down the slope, a deep, booming note rises from the desert. Often described as a bass note from an organ or a plane, this phenomenon is not well understood. National Geographic made a short video on the dunes better explaining the dunes and providing audio for the booms.

The Eureka Dunes were open to Off-Highway Vehicles until Death Valley National Park was created and expanded in 1991, and in the time the dunes were unprotected about twenty feet of height was lost from the summit, much of which has returned. Also in this time several species of endemic (not found anywhere else) plants– three species– and five species of endemic beetle were driven nearly to extinction by this activity, but populations of these species have recovered dramatically.  These dunes are truly a special place, and definitely one of the most stark and awe-inspiring places to go in all of California.

I have been here twice, both times just after heavy rain. These trips were carefully planned around the rain, because after rain the sand solidifies and becomes much easier to walk on than dry sand. The second time I made it all the way to the top while half of the party was a left behind. The view from the top is incredible, and gives credence to the hype of these dramatic dunes that are dwarfed by the wall of stratified mountains that stand four thousand feet above.

During wind, fragments of plants and whatnot are left behind as wind removes sand around them, leaving these
structures in the otherwise bare sand.

This is looking down the face of the highest dune, down about four hundred feet of sheer sand wall.