Little Sahara State Park, OK
Sand dunes and dune buggies in Oklahoma? That's right!
Fasten your seat belts for one of Oklahoma's most exciting state park adventures! Little Sahara State Park, with 1,450 acres of rideable sand dunes ranging in height from 25 to 75 feet, offers the perfect "oasis" for off-road vehicle enthusiasts, mixed in with some fascinating history.
The dunes were created over 11,000 years ago primarily from terrace deposits and well-sorted quartz left by the Cimarron River when it flowed across this area during the Pleistocene Age. Floodplain deposits left by the present-day river also contribute to the changing formations. This makes for a very, very fine quartz sand.
Early explorers of the area once called the dunes "walking hills." You can visit Little Sahara over and over again and never see the dunes exactly the same as the last trip. The wind and weather play an important part in the dunes shape and placement in Oklahoma's geography - sand blows and reforms. These sand dunes "walk" about a foot northwestward every year. In some cases in other states or countries, where the sand dune is today, won't be where it is tomorrow. Little Sahara isn't quite that bad, but you get the picture!
