The Eureka Dunes lie in the remote Eureka Valley, an enclosed basin at 3000 foot elevation located northwest of Death Valley. The dunes cover an area only 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, yet they are the tallest sand dunes in North America, possibly the tallest in all of the Western Hemisphere. They rise suddenly more than 700 feet above the dry lakebed at their western base. As tall as these dunes are, they are dwarfed by the impressive limestone wall of the Last Chance Mountains which rises another 4000 feet above the valley floor. Words cannot describe how beautiful this place is. Of all the places I have traveled this is my favorite place to camp for a few days. In fact, the dunes were the focus of our entire trip … we planned on spending a few days camped beside the dunes and challenge the kids to climb to the very top. Climbing the dunes is no easy feat … involving nearly a full day of hiking across loose sand that is crawling with tarantulas and rattlesnakes! As you can tell from the pictures we all made it safely to the summit and back.