We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again:
We kind of love Winnemucca. Yes, THAT Winnemucca—the roadside truck stop, drive-through town, where you stop for fuel or a cheap motel on your trip to anywhere else.
But there’s something homey about this high desert town, where a burger and beer at the Flying Pig, or an omelette and hash browns at Sid’s Restaurant feels like walking into a big family gathering after a lengthy trek across the desert.
As if we needed another reason to reason to love this I-80 overnight, we recently stumbled on the Winnemucca sand dunes just 15 minutes outside town.
We needed a place for the kids to burn some energy, and since towering dunes always make for fun photos, we figured we’d at least check them out. I mean it’s only 15 minutes outside of town—if they aren’t that cool, then we’ll leave.
Well, from the moment we turned our truck into the entrance (which is located off of US 95 about 9.5 miles north of town), it was pretty obvious we wouldn’t be turning around, since the Winnemucca sand dunes are awesome.
Like many sand dunes, this area is popular with the ATVs and off-roaders, but since we arrived there early (about 8am), we had them all to ourselves.
Snake tracks and animal prints dotted the sand, which stretches across public and private land in a patchwork of shifty gold pyramids. While we didn’t see any actual wildlife, we saw plenty of places for jumping, running, rolling, diving, and racing down mountains of sand.
The photography opportunities are particularly fun (especially at sunrise and sunset), and Nevada’s largest dune complex is the perfect place to stop and stretch your legs, let the kids run free, and explore for 30 minutes (or a few hours) when passing through Winnemucca.
