Sand Mountain Recreation Area

Bureau Of Land Management Recreation Area Around A 600 Foot 'Singing' Sand Dune On US 50, With The Ruins Of The Sand Springs Pony Express Station · Fallon, Nevada

Sand Mountain is a single, isolated sand dune rising out of the desert flats beside US Highway 50, about 25 miles east of Fallon, managed by the Bureau of Land Management as the Sand Mountain Recreation Area. The dune is often described as roughly 600 feet high and about two miles long, and its fine, dry sand is one of the few in North America said to 'sing' - a slide of sand down the steep face can set off a low booming hum. Most visitors come to ride: dune buggies, sand rails, dirt bikes and quads climb and bowl the slopes, and on holiday weekends the flats at the base fill with trailers, motorhomes and campfires. At its foot lie the stone ruins of the Sand Springs Pony Express Station, a short free walk from the parking area. Parts of the dune are closed to vehicles to protect the rare Sand Mountain blue butterfly. There is no water, shade, shop or fuel on site, the heat and wind are hard, and soft sand traps ordinary cars. It is a local off-road magnet and a worthwhile stop on the Loneliest Road, not a destination on its own; Fallon, half an hour west, has fuel, food and motels.

US Highway 50, about 25 miles east of Fallon, Fallon, Nevada, 89406, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: Sand Mountain is open public land with no gate and no posted hours, open every day and night of the year, and the Pony Express ruins can be walked at any time in daylight. There is no staffed visitor centre on site. The traps that ruin a day are arriving without the recreation permit and no signal to buy one, driving an ordinary car onto soft sand, coming on Thanksgiving or Easter weekend expecting quiet, riding in the afternoon wind of spring or the midday heat of summer, and running out of fuel or water with Fallon half an hour away. Confirm current rules before relying on them.

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