sand lake info

[bossman525]

gonna be heading to sand lake for the first time in june, need some info from you guys. do the camp grounds there have water available to fill up tanks in my toy hauler? and do you need to make reservations? and last but not least, is it good riding there? oh, i see there are 3 different campgrounds there on there website, which is the best one to stay in? other than that, that was all the info i could get off there website.

[JOEX]

Sandlake is a fairly small riding area and in close proximity to the Portland metro area. Combine those two and you have a very crowded riding area on the weekends. During the week it's not too bad. That's the only time i'll go there.

The riding is okay. Many tree shots to try. Theres a 'one-way' trail that's alot of fun as long as no one is going the wrong way:mad:

The east & west winds campgrounds are just parking lots

Sandbeach campground is an actual campground as well as Derrick road which is basically in the middle of the dunes.

I haven't been there in a year or two so things may be different now. They have been making improvements recently.

More info can be found here...
http://www.duneguide.com/sand_dune_guide_sand_lake.htm

[LOVE2RIDE]

Please visit this site and introduce yourself. It has a wealth of information. Many great people log onto this site.


http://www.sandlakeduners.com/

[Grizzly_A]

I echo what others just say. It's pretty popular and it gets crazy on the weekends. I only ride there during the week. During the summer the sand gets pretty tore up and it starts getting good again in Dec-Feb when the wind starts shaping the sand again. The riding is definately better earlier in the season before all the nuts get out there and flatten out the sand.

Go to Youtube.com and search for Sand lake ore Oregon Dune vids. Lots of good terrain and fun shown on those vids. :)

If you're just out riding, you'll see the whole place in about 30 minutes. But if you love the treeshots, you'll spend most of your time on the east side of the place. :) It's great for a day trip, not sure if it's worth multiple days when you compare it with Florence, Spinreel/Hauser/Horsfall and WinchesterBay.

[tjar66]

The entire riding area is 5 miles long there are some challenging tree shots but that is about it. I would continue on to the Coos Bay area. SL is fun for a day trip at best

[bossman525]

thanks for the info guys. i have decided to go to winchester bay instead. it seems like the camp grounds there are better than at florence. plus from what it sounds like it can be pretty crowded at sand lake and i hate crowds and tore up sand. with that said, how is the riding at winchester? my wife is an intermediate rider at best, she is not real aggresive, so are the dunes there good for cruising around on while i am getting crazy? also, i dont have paddles, what do you guys recomend for paddles? i was thinking sand stars, but don't know if alot of people run haulers or not. my wifes scrambler has haulers and they are great but i'm not sure if i need haulers or not. thanks again for the info. BTW, we are going down the week of june 9th if any one else is going.

[Grizzly_A]

Winchester is fun, only been there once though. Took a day trip down from Florence. Since the dunes are bigger, you'll want a bigger engine. :) Your wife should be fine with haulers, since it sounds like she'll be cruising in a straight line. There's plenty of cruising around, although you can't ride on the beach at Winchester, but you can see the ocean.

We were out there with honda 300ex (no paddles) and they were a little small for the terrain. We didn't even try the larger dunes, but so much of it depends on whether the sand is soft or hard.

I've got the Sand Stars now on the 400ex and I've only ridden them once. If you want good turning/handling the Sand Stars or Sand Skate IIs are good (based on threads in here) and the haulers are great for dragging and hill climbs.