Sand Mountain Pics

[thejeepdude]

Hey just got a few pics back from my girlfriend's camera from this weekend's Sand Mountain trip... I'll post a few here...

Welcome to Sand Mountain... this is the entrance road. The GPS clocked me at 59.7 on this road with 14/39 gears and the girlfriend on the back. It looks kinda weird with the focus on the bar pad instead of the dunes... but i thought it was kinda cool...

[thejeepdude]

A closer one from the entrance road... these things look so majestic when the shade hits 'em...

[thejeepdude]

Me foolin around on the "super bowl"... this is my favorite place at Sand Mountain. GO to the top of the north side of the bowl at midnight, aim toward the bottom, then kill your headlights... wide open throttle through all 5 gears going straight down about 200' or so... now THAT is an adreniline rush :eek2: Now try it with your girlfriend on the back and plug your ears good. :devil:

[thejeepdude]

Gettin a little air... I wasn't hittin too hard because the stock suspension was bottoming out, but I'd say once in a while I'd clear about 40 feet or so, but only a max of about 6-8 feet off the ground... of course didn't get a pic of those :p

[thejeepdude]

Here's another of the super bowl... I shoulda dropped the girlfriend off at the TOP of the bowl so you could see the whole thing... but this'll give you an idea...

[thejeepdude]

this one is haulin *** across the salt flats. This is a wide open area across highway 50 from Sand Mountain...

[thejeepdude]

Here's a shot from the top of one of the ridges a couple miles from Sand Mountain. I didn't even realize this entire area is littered with hundreds of miles of trails, all open to ATV, with ghost towns and mementos from the past littered all about. The road in this pic that goes forever and over that mountain in the distance is where we ended up going Sunday. I think we covered about 50-60 miles on that trip in about 2.5 hours... some of it was rocky and rutted, while much of it was wide-open gravel/dirt/sand roads... mucho fun! It's like having infinite riding destinations just a mile from our camp at the dunes!

[thejeepdude]

Another pic from that hill of more trails other directions...

[thejeepdude]

A pic from one of the trails we explored. I checked out that little shack in the pic, but I have no idea what it was. The top of this particular trail was blocked with a gate... albeit a few pieces of wire and some string, but we didn't want to mess with it so we headed off to explore other places...

[thejeepdude]

A shot back out toward the entrance and camping area from the top of the dunes. On memorial day weekend, the entire area at the bottom of the dunes was packed with RV's, toyboxes, and toys. Wish I had the camera that day... it was an awesome view at night.

[QuadJunkies]

nice pics!!!:blah: looks like you had a blast.... I cant wait to ride next month. Im gonna take aton of pics over the four Days Im there... How hot was it?????

[wb300ex]

nice nice

[Glow Plug]

looks like it would be a ton of fun :D

[cool 300ex]

Looks like fun!!!Good pics!

[spincr4hire]

<drool> man that looks like the ultimate place to ride...:cool:

[sly400ex]

WOW, looks AWESOME!!!:D

[dirtmomma]

Where are those dunes at?? They look beautiful, looks like some good riding too out there on those trails!!

[CHAUNCY]

Sikk pics:macho

[thejeepdude]

I'm glad you guys like the pics! I was pretty impressed myself when my girlfriend showed them to me!

quadjunkies: the weather wasn't too bad! It was cooler than memorial day weekend by a few degrees. It still got hot during the main part of the day... even though the temp was probably only in the high 80's low 90's most of the time, when the heat is radiating off the sand, it feels a lot hotter. While we were riding it was fine (except for the occasional hot wind), but sitting around camp you definitely want shade. I bought a 10x10 easy-up before this trip and it was worth every penny!!! Let me know when you're headin out there and I might go again too!

dirtmomma: Those dunes are about 30 miles east of Fallon, NV on highway 50.

[QuadJunkies]

I pray that it is mild for our trip. I can handle 90 ish but 100's will suck:( Its usually cooler up in RExburg due to the Teton Mnts.and YES!!!!!! A easy pop up is worth EVERY dime I agree. We have one too.........Sorry, I realize what I typed before, when I referred to me going duning, it was to St. Anthonys ...sorry....

[tom400ex]

Yeah riding in Jersey is kinda like that too:D :D
before i die i need to ride out there. Its like god made that just for ATV's. I have never seen anything like that before!
I'm jealous :grr:

[Str8Wicked]

Great pics...... looks like you ahd fun... love those bowls.....

[thejeepdude]

Well, if anyone wants to plan a trip out to California for some ridin, lets hook up and we can make a few trips out to the various riding places across the west... Sand Mountain, Pismo Dunes, Oregon Dunes, and a TON of trails all over the place, some mountain riding, we got it all :D Now why aren't more people into ATV's out here? Oh yeah, cuz half our population (read: San Fransisco and L.A.) are left wing environmentalist nuts that think anything with a motor is a threat to the wilderness... God forbid we actually get out and SEE the beautful world we live in, the way it looked before it was wall-to-wall skyscrapers and overpopulated cities :mad: but I digress :p :confused2

[thejeepdude]

One more... gotta have a shot of my ugly mugg and my darlin' girlfriend who puts up with all my crap :p :D

[thejeepdude]

Ok this one's cool too... just a glimpse of the immensity of these dunes... this one is in super bowl again, with the bowl down to the right and to the left it drops off several hundred feet to the base of the dunes... notice the tracks to the right go in a cirlcle... you can ride wide open throttle around the bowl and never slow down... it's sooo cool! :D

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by thejeepdude
Ok this one's cool too... just a glimpse of the immensity of these dunes... this one is in super bowl again, with the bowl down to the right and to the left it drops off several hundred feet to the base of the dunes... notice the tracks to the right go in a cirlcle... you can ride wide open throttle around the bowl and never slow down... it's sooo cool! :D Gosh..... its gonna be a loonnnngg month until my vacation.....:( That pic of you and your lady is nice.......;)

[norcal.z400]

nice pics jeepdude .... I was there on memorial day weekend. I probably wont make it back till after summer and the weather cools down again!

watch out for those salt flats .... it will rust your bike like no other. did you ride over there with paddles??? im afraid to ride to many of those trails with my haulers cause they rip off pretty easy.

next time you are there make sure you check out the memorial for some more awesome views and to pay a little respect to those that died out there. it may slow you down a bit too .... it sure makes me think.

where are you in norcal? im up here in chico

[thejeepdude]

Hey norcal... that was insane there on Memorial Day, huh? We hung out at the top of the front dune quite a bit at night and just watched all the chaos going on everywhere :cool: But yeah the heat was a killer. It was actually cooler this past weekend, though! I'm just going to keep my eye on the forcasts and if there's a cool weekend coming up, I'm gonna have to go back ASAP. And no, I didn't use paddles on the salt flats... we did a lot of trail riding and put the Klaw XCR's back on... glad I brought them, pretty much only because I was too lazy to change my tires before we headed up there :p I have been up to the memorial (they should say "wasn't wearing helmet" on their memorial... might dull the shock factor of people dying there) several times, though... it's a nice high mountain to just chill sometimes, plus a lot of the dunes along the north side of the bottom of that hill are perfect for wide open carving, since they're mostly rounded tops... yeah freaked the girl out a few times there too :devil: So chico, eh? That's not too far... I used to drive up there a couple times a week when I was datin someone up there... we'll have to hook up and go ridin sometime... Marysville is about halfway-ish... haven't been up there since I got my new toy...

[GETSOME]

Nice pics, I'm in western Oregon and I have wanted to visit Sand Mountain for so long. Been to Glamis twice, and it would sure be a shorter drive going to Sand Mountain than Glamis.

[thejeepdude]

Hey getsome, since you live in western Orgeon, here's a question for ya... I've been wanting to make a trip up there for a while, and in the past I just drove up whenever and camped right on the beach. However, last year I noticed they were closing the open beach areas off for camping and you have to camp in a designated spot. The problem is that this requires reservations... which I don't have time to make if I'm taking a spur of the moment trip up there. So, you know of any places in the area to camp on the sand without reservations? I wasn't sure if this was just a new coos bay rule, or was effective at all OHV areas...

[wilkin250r]

Sand Mountain is awesome. The creation of it is simply amazing. Winds pick up sand from the deltas and come over the mountains, and when it drops into the valley, it deposits all the sand in one spot. Over thousands of years, Sand Mountain is the result. The sand is as pure as if you had sifted and washed it.

To see a huge pile of pristine white sand surrounded by mountains of dark volcanic rock is truly an amazing sight.

Jeepdude, how often do you come out to Sand Mountain? My girlfriend and I go many times a year (we live about 3 hours away) and are always looking for friends to join up with.

I may be braving the tempuratures pretty soon, I got a new racing engine coming to me next week, I gotta try it out in the dunes...

[norcal.z400]

Originally posted by thejeepdude
Hey norcal... that was insane there on Memorial Day, huh? We hung out at the top of the front dune quite a bit at night and just watched all the chaos going on everywhere :cool: But yeah the heat was a killer. It was actually cooler this past weekend, though! I'm just going to keep my eye on the forcasts and if there's a cool weekend coming up, I'm gonna have to go back ASAP. And no, I didn't use paddles on the salt flats... we did a lot of trail riding and put the Klaw XCR's back on... glad I brought them, pretty much only because I was too lazy to change my tires before we headed up there :p I have been up to the memorial (they should say "wasn't wearing helmet" on their memorial... might dull the shock factor of people dying there) several times, though... it's a nice high mountain to just chill sometimes, plus a lot of the dunes along the north side of the bottom of that hill are perfect for wide open carving, since they're mostly rounded tops... yeah freaked the girl out a few times there too :devil: So chico, eh? That's not too far... I used to drive up there a couple times a week when I was datin someone up there... we'll have to hook up and go ridin sometime... Marysville is about halfway-ish... haven't been up there since I got my new toy...

sounds good. the riding in marysville is just ok .... you cant ride on the MX track cause that is for dirtbikes only. But you can ride at the Shad Pad and there is a small track there and you can drink a ton of beer :D

[wilkin250r]

I've never had the opportunity to explore the trails outside of the dune area. What is this memorial?

[thejeepdude]

Originally posted by wilkin250r
I've never had the opportunity to explore the trails outside of the dune area. What is this memorial?

The memorial is that one hill on the northeast side of sand mountain where people have put plaques on rocks to remember those that have died there. The trails outside of the dune area can be accessed by riding down the entrance road, turning left on the old semi-paved gravel road that goes parallel to hwy50... then there's a few trails you can access by crossing 50 and heading south into the middle of nowhere! :)

I'm also about 3 hours away, and definitely want to head up there again sometime soon, although my next trip will probably be to the Oregon Dunes... I miss that place.

[wilkin250r]

Summertime is a little too hot, my girlfriend and I are thinking about planning a fall trip. Hopefully I'll have my 250x with nitrous fixed. :eek:

It still won't be as fast as my R though:devil: