Sand Mountain Recreation Area, located in Churchill County, is an OHV (off highway vehicle) recreational area near Fallon. In addition to ATVing, driving dune buggies, and riding dirt bikes—which are quite popular—the area is also known for its sledding and sandboarding. For winter enthusiasts awaiting late autumn and winter snow in the northern part of the state, Sand Mountain provides a welcome and fun alternative where you can go sandboarding and sledding year round. Take a look at this unique Nevada attraction.
Sand Mountain sits just off Highway 50 (the Loneliest Road in America) approximately 25 miles east of Fallon and 85 miles east of Reno in Churchill County. A two-mile dirt road takes visitors to the base of the 600-foot sand mountain.
Instead of a "sea of sand dunes" such as is the case in areas like the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, Sand Mountain is a single mountain that many consider to be the best competition hill in the country for a variety of sand-related activities.
The sand here originates from the ancient glacial Lake Lahontan that covered most of the central part of the state and, largely, dried up approximately 9,000 years ago.
In addition to the many activities in which to participate at this geological beauty, perhaps the most fascinating is that this huge six-story mountain of sand is one of only a handful of singing sand dunes in the entire world. This natural sound phenomenon can reach 105 decibels and last for several minutes.
Even though San Mountain is open year-round, the best times to visit are in the spring and autumn as the winter is quite wet and the summer can be a bit hot and windy.