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Alaska’s Little-Known Landscape of Massive Sand Dunes
Arctic sand dunes!? Come on!
“Massive mounds of golden sand look like a desert landscape randomly plopped in an Arctic forest.” — Atlas Obscura
Before ever traveling to Alaska, I imagined it to be many things. But I have to admit that a land of giant sand dunes certainly wasn’t one of them.
In fact, when I first read about them in a magazine, I thought it was a mistake. Maybe they’d mixed up the locations, I thought. Surely the 100-foot sand dunes being described were in a desert somewhere, not the frozen wilderness that Alaska is best known for.
I just couldn’t imagine it; my mind wouldn’t go there.
However, more research revealed that it was, of course, true.
“Formed 14,000 years ago as retreating glaciers ground rocks into sand, the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, together with two smaller dune fields, cover 30 square miles,” Centennial Travel writes in its special 2021 issue, Complete Guide to the National Parks.
Located thirty-five miles above the Arctic Circle, the dunes are found within Kobuk Valley National Park, sitting in the northwest corner of the state. They constitute the largest arctic sand dunes in the world.
