Great Sand Dunes National Monument

[SDVike]

I only have two more weekends left in Colorado. I was thinking of taking Medano Pass road to Sand Dunes National Monument this weekend. Has anyone taken that trail in a mostly stock Explorer? It is rated a 4 out of 10 in the trail guide I have. I have been on a 3 so I am not to worried, but it includes a stream crossing and sand which I have never been on.

I have upgraded the tires but as most know I can't do much more with a 3rd Gen. Any tips or warnings would be appreciated .

 

[Rick]

My tip is to keep momentum in the sand. When I was there the first part of the trail was the softest. After that it wasn't bad at all. I saw stock SUVs there that made it ok. Just be sure you're in 4x4 as soon as you get off the road and be ready to stay on the gas to keep up wheel speed and momentum.

 

[Texan01]

I just did part of that trail in my 2wd X, got through the sand with no problems other than having to keep speed up and walloping the hell out of it on some of the dips, managed to nose it into a big dip and rip the plastic air dam off the front bumper. I turned around at the 1st water crossing ,from the park, because it was too deep for my rig. Good thing too, as my electric fan conversion died on the way back out, as it was I pegged the temp gauge and had steam blowing out the cap and the coolant overflow. had to rig the fan with some creative wiring to get it to cool the engine off. it looked like a nice trail, I just didn't have the right gear to do it.