Glamis sand dunes is a super random 40mile stretch of dunes that can reach up to 300ft in height right off the 8 in southern California. Glamis is also known by multiple other names including Imperial Dunes and Algodones dunes. If you're into photography, you're gonna love this spot. There is a road that leads right up to the top of the dunes so you can get incredible shots with little to no effort. We have been to some other notable dunes (like Mesquite and Great Sand Dunes) and Glamis can hang with the best of em. Unless you hit peak off-roading season, there is basically zero crowd to deal with. For the short 1.5hr drive from San Diego, we highly recommend a pit stop here for sunrise or sunset if you are ever nearby or have a down day in San Diego.
Glamis is one of the best viewpoints in southern California for sunrise and sunset. However, if you sleep in and show up mid-day, it is substantially less impressive. The dunes need low angle sunlight to create shadows to really help the dunes stand out. When the sun is high in the sky, then everything just blends together. If that's not reason enough for ya, this place gets scorching hot in the middle of the day. There's little to no reason not to visit this spot for sunrise or sunset.
In the cooler winter months, these dunes start crawling with off-road vehicles. We strongly suggest avoiding these months (Dec - Feb) as the dunes get pretty tracked out and it's also pretty dangerous to wander around the dunes with most of the vehicles flippantly blasting through blind spots. If you do happen to come here during peak off-road season, don't venture far from the parking lot and stay at the top of peaks or in visible spots.
Odds are, you've probably actually seen Glamis Dunes in multiple movies already. Most notably, Glamis was the location where Star Wars filmed some scenes for Return of the Jedi. We have actually been here when smaller scale productions have been filming at the dunes, so who knows, you might just run into some other creative people out on the dunes on any given day.
Glamis is one of our favorite day trips (being headquartered in San Diego). Its almost impossible to take a bad photo if you show up near sunrise or sunset. Avoid the winter months (Dec-Feb) as the dunes will turn into a scene from Mad MAX....unless thats what you're into. It is pretty cool watching a $100K vehicle rip through and over the dunes. However, don't expect to get many good photos at this time of year. Walking through sand can get exhausting, so if you plan on venturing out far, def don't forget plenty of water.