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.
1 Review on “West Mesa Sand Dunes”
All of these dunes are on privately owned land. Most of the residents in the area are very unfriendly. A few will not hesitate to shoot someone. They have become this way due to the extremely high rate of disrespectful individuals and criminals these dunes attract. Some of the issues they have experienced are ohv’s driving right on to their property and doing donuts in the yard. Peppering their homes vehicles and even their children with sand and gravel. Others go shooting and don’t care if there’s homes or people in the direction their shooting. Some individuals will shoot livestock and pets if they happen to see them. Some of the ohv drivers have run over residents dogs on purpose, and at least one tried to run over a couple of the locals until the driver was shot at. In addition to the blatantly disrespectful ohv drivers and the dumb and often drunken shooters, they have grown tired of the trash and the garbage they leave behind. Especially those illegally dumping trash, tires, stolen vehicles, and dead bodies (human and non human). So if you decide to venture out to Pajarito Mesa there’s two options, 1. Be respectful or 2. F.A.F.O. I personally wouldn’t recommend the latter as it could result in an acute case of lead poisoning.