Sand Dunes Pool
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
Sand Dunes Pool is the name on file for a thermal point in Saguache County, about fourteen miles from Center, sitting right beside a road. No temperature is recorded, which leaves the water's warmth an open question. Ownership and access are also blank.
Thirty feet, maybe less, between the road and the water, so roadside is no exaggeration. The road carries no name anyone has recorded. Elevation runs a bit past 7,500 feet, though winters go light on snow at around two and a half feet, and precipitation stays low. The one camp listed is Zapata Falls Campground, a little under eighteen miles off.
No season is flagged as best. Expect no details on file for temperature or water chemistry. Ask locally about ownership and access. Light snow and a dry climate are the one thing the record says about the approach in winter.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Sand Dunes Pool.
- Setting
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 2 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's close to the US average of 65. It's higher than at 3% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
Overview A short drive up the gravel road that leads to the Bureau of Land Management’s Zapata Falls Campground (CG) will let visitors to the area see the San Luis Valley and Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve from a whole new perspective. The campground offers bird’s-eye views of the valley floor below, the San Juan Mountains to the west, the adjacent Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and several 14er’s and many other towering peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range th...
Sand Dunes Pool sits at 7,539 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 30% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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