The West Mesa Sand Dunes, also marked on Google Maps as Horseshoe Dune and Burque Sand Dunes, are an unofficial but intriguing stretch of sand located just west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They sit south of old Route 66, tucked behind the Metropolitan Detention Center, and can be reached by taking Central Avenue west, turning at Shelly Drive SW, and following a gravel road that runs parallel to the detention center fence.
While there’s no clear official name, the dunes are known locally for their beige, wind-blown sand, formed from erosion of Cretaceous and Jurassic sandstones in the Rio Puerco valley. The wind deposits the sand at the edge of the West Mesa, creating a mix of older, stabilized dunes and younger, shifting ones.
Outside of their Google Maps listings, there is very little official information about them online, and some locals caution that parts of the area may be on private land, raising possible trespassing concerns. Visitors who make the trip—often finding complete solitude on weekdays—describe the spot as peaceful and undeveloped, with no signage or infrastructure, and a unique hidden feature of the Albuquerque landscape.
