Portal:Idaho/Selected article/2

Bruneau Dunes State Park


Located south of Mountain Home, Idaho, outside of Bruneau, Idaho, Bruneau Dunes State Park is home to the several large sand dunes and a small lake. The park is the site of North America's highest sand dune which is approximately 470 feet high. The park is also the site of the Bruneau Dunes Observatory, where visitors can use a telescope for star gazing.

The tallest single-structured sand dune in North America is in this park; it rises to 470 feet high above small lakes. The dunes at Bruneau Dunes State Park are unique in the Western Hemisphere. Other dunes in the Americas form at the edge of a natural basin. The Bruneau dunes form near the center. The basin has acted as a natural trap for over 12,000 years. The dunes may have started with sands from the Bonneville Flood about 15,000 years ago. The prevailing winds blow from the southeast 28 percent of the time and from the northwest 32 percent of the time, keeping the dunes fairly stable. Unlike most dunes, these do not drift far.