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
Please read before attempting challenge site or checking in:
Use the form below to check in. Check in’s must include a photo of you or your bike, at the challenge site, with the 2025 bandanna. To check in, all participants must be registered IAMC Challenge Members. Be sure to leave a description about the ride, and share any road conditions as snow, water, or obstacles. Please provide any other information that might help future visitors navigate to this site safely. Replying or commenting on another persons Check In is encouraged, but take care not to create your own Check In on accident.
The stated ride difficulty is just an estimate. By rating the ride difficulty in your experience according to this scale you can help future riders stay safe. You, and you alone are responsible for the safety of your ride. While we do our best to accurately convey the challenge level for each site, it is up to you to make sure you have the skills needed to reach each destination. If you feel the trail exceeds your skill level please turn around immediately.
NOTE: We have been having some issues uploading images. We are working on this. If you are having trouble, try resizing your images to less than 1280×1280 pixels and keep files sizes down to a minimum. If the problem persists, please reach out on the Forums under “Website Tips and Questions.” This should just be a temporary issue as we get the tech figured out. Thank you.
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.