18 – Bruneau Dunes State Park
From Parks and Recreation Idaho Website:
With one of the longest camping seasons in the Idaho Parks system, Bruneau Dunes State Park offers camping opportunities throughout the year. Campsites and cabins are available with plenty of first-come, first-served sites too.
Bruneau Dunes park boasts the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America with a peak rising 470 feet above the surrounding desert floor. Explore the dunes in your hiking boots or rent a sandboard from the Visitor Center, but off-road vehicles are only permitted on the main road. You can also fish for bluegill in the lakes at the foot of the dune; unlock the mystery of the desert with a breathtaking hike or horseback ride; plan a group picnic or visit the Bruneau Dunes Observatory and gaze at the night sky through the Observatory’s collection of telescopes.
Coordinates: 42.911461, -115.715202
Elevation: 2508 ft
Difficulty: 1
What to Expect: Coordinates are at the entrance, you must pay to go further.
Check In
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Nice feature.
Warm day easy ride
Big fan of the Dune. Make sure go down some time when the Astronomical Society is star gazing. Worth the ride.
Spent the night at the state park. Very enjoyable, I usually camp here in the fall/spring but the weather wasn’t too hot.
Unintentionally leave my 2025 bandana at home.
Off to a good start for our first day!
I got this site on Alec’s 3 day 1300 mile ride, nice place to bring the family
We meandered in, to see if it might be a future camping site 🙂
Great place to take the kids for a summer sledding. Caught bluegill out of the large pond as a kid. Good memories. If you have time, check out the Bruneau Dunes Observatory.
Holy mosquitos, Batman!!! The ride to and from was nice though.
After Rattlesnake Station, we rode to Bruneau where we had a great dinner at the Cowboy’s Pastime. Around sunset, we rode to the Dunes, hoping to nab a site and enjoy some stargazing at the Observatory. The mosquitoes were so bad, we didn’t stick around. From past experience, I highly recommend the stargazing parties they have each weekend there, but don’t go without your repellent! The parties cost $5/person, and as mentioned, without a Parks Pass, the entrance fee to the Dunes is $7/vehicle.
The gate was open, but the guard house was closed. They have a nice little gift/information center. Good place to stretch your legs for a bit.
Up to the gate also
Just outside the gate. If I had my grandkids with me I would have stayed to play.
Took the pic from the dirt road to the right of the entrance.
That’s some big sand dunes out there.
I didn’t go in. She wanted $7.00 to get to the parking lot and I didn’t plan to stay so just pics from the road. Chilly tonight but clear weather and paved all the way.
6th site for the day. I stopped outside the entry point on the dirt road for a quick picture, showing the visitor center and big dune. I wasn’t planning to go into the park and there was a short line of cars I didn’t feel like waiting for, lol.
Last stop out of six, or maybe seven, for today. BDSP is a pretty nice park this time of year. The temp was about perfect when we were there. Wish they’d open the sand dunes to paddle-tire-equipped 450’s for a day. LOL!
Super cool tall sand dune you can hike up. They do have an observatory here, too.
This was the last stop on an almost 400 mile great riding day with FW190Pilot.
A very unique dune, all by its lonesome. Lots of camping spots, and I bet the observatory would be pretty interesting.