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While exploring Mojave National Preserve, we made a brief stop at Kelso Dunes. We didn't do any hiking as we've done a few other more prominent dunes before (Great Sand Dunes National Park & White Sands National Monument), but we did take some photos to share.
 We were camping in the Mojave National Preserve in southern California, and after a couple of earlier hikes (Rings Loop and Lava Tube), we drove past the Kelso Dunes Visitors Center and proceeded another seven miles south where we turned off the main road. The dunes were larger than I expected, and we pulled over so I could get a long distance panorama.  We drove another four miles on what was supposed to be a paved road, but it was in such bad shape I don't know if I would qualify it as "paved". Eventually, we bounced our way to the parking lot and got out for a fairly quick look. The Kelso Dunes rise to over 600 feet and cover 45 square miles. They are quite impressive.  Since we have hiked the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado (over 750 feet), we had no interest in hiking these. But we were surprised at the size of these dunes, and the fact that there are so few people here compared to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This would certainly be a great place to experience hiking in high dunes without the crowds (but probably not in the high desert heat of the summer). There were a few cars in the parking lot, and these two young ladies were just heading out.  Zooming in, we could see a few tiny people on the trail.  If you go, take lots of water and sunscreen, and understand that climbing in deep sand isn't easy.
From there, we headed back to our campground to prepare for the next day's hike.
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