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10-30-2009, 04:18 PM
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DUN3R4L1F3 
Location: Pismo Beach
DC Cash: 11,246,749
Gallery
202
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Four Dunes, Six Days, and One Interstate
 quadmagazine.com The idea of my friends having all that grown-up fast fun in the dunes without me was eating away at my core. There had to be a way to get out of the house, away from my desk, and in the dunes. I solved my problem the same way any cunning photographer would: I presented my editor with the idea of my camera and me capturing some St. Anthony action for Quad. The spark plug of the idea was there, but the mixture was way off. The next day, Doogie and I talked about the trip. Out of nowhere, I cracked a joke. “Hey Doogie, four dunes in six days-do you think I can pull it off? Immediately I thought, “Oh no, what did I just volunteer to do? With a smirk on his face, he replied, “What exactly did you mean by four dunes in six days? I wanted to lie to him and just name off four spots in St. Anthony, but all I could come up with was Choke Cherry and Devil’s Dune, so I coughed out the truth. “Well, along the road trip I will pass by four major sets of dunes, including St. Anthony, all of which are off Interstate 15. “Really? That sounds great, he said. I was afraid he’d say that. I was hoping for something more along the lines of, “No, that’s crazy and it would be too much work. I wanted to go on a dune trip, not a doomed trip, so I was very selective about my next words. “Here is what I can put together: I’ll hit Coral Pink and St. Anthony dunes with three days at each stop, and if I’m not exhausted, maybe I’ll visit Little Sahara or Dumont dunes on the way back. He gave me the go-ahead and I was a little weary about my spur-of-the-moment plan, but then I realized it didn’t matter -I was going duning with my friends and I couldn’t wait. I immediately logged onto glamisdunes.com and sent out messages to all my riding buddies on the forums. I felt like a kid who just bought all the ice cream from the ice cream truck. Coral Pink, UtahI managed to talk my friend Jim into joining me on my journey from California to Utah, and our first stop was located at the northern-most tip of the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon. Our destination was the Coral Pink dunes, a place that provides great scenery and awesome riding. Coral Pink is truly one of the world’s wonders-the pink, powder-like sand runs along steep rustic cliffs that open up into a spread-out bowled section of the park. There are approximately 3,500 acres of dunes to ride, with plenty of trails winding in and out of the main dunes. Coral Pink is not the best riding area, but running wide open next to eroding Navajo sandstone is well worth the stop. And if you want some great photos of you and your friends riding, this is the place to do it-even sand newbies will look great against the Coral Pink backdrop. St. Anthony, IdahoFollowing two great days in Coral Pink, we hit the road with our sights set on Idaho. With our motivation running high, we managed to pull into the Sand Hills Resort just in time to get a ride in before dark…OK, it was completely dark, but we were so excited we couldn’t wait. Early the next morning, we headed out for a more in-depth ride. With over 11,000 acres of white quartz sand, St. Anthony yields some of the largest sand bowls around -Devil’s Dune spirals down 300 feet! This place is also known for its monstrous hill climbs like Choke Cherry, which stands over 300 feet tall. Lava rock formations around some of the smaller dunes are a hazard, so we had to keep our eyes scanning the area to avoid rough, pointy, tire-ripping spots . Midway from our camp to our big sand bowl destination was Egin Lake, which is a shallow lake that is a nice relaxing place to play during a ride. We rode from sunup to sundown; we even went on a Rhino adventure exploring 53 miles of Idaho lava fields in search of some ice caves. We found the caves, but the entrances were guarded by a pack of wolverines-not really an animal we wanted to tangle with, so we called it a day and headed back to camp. Little Saahara, UtahAfter two days in Idaho, we got back on the road and geared up for Little Sahara, which is just about half way between St. Anthony and Coral Pink. At this point, my friend Jim and I could barely walk, let alone ride-it felt like we had been riding for weeks, not days, thanks to all the different sand adventures we experienced during such a short period of time. Little Sahara is widely spread out, with over 60,000 acres of free-flowing dunes. We camped at Sand Mountain, which has a number of tall hill climbs -one has a 700-foot face. This is truly a prime location for sand drags; the scarred-out starting holes at the foot of the mountain prove it. We rode up and over Sand Mountain, where there is a long stretch of big bowls. The bowls aren’t as spectacular as the ones in St. Anthony, but they’re fun enough to keep people coming back for more. One of the things we really enjoyed about Little Sahara was the variety it offered-it had a little something for everyone, including endless amounts of trails, which we tooled around on with our Rhino. Dumont, California: After a full day ride in Little Sahara, we loaded up and made tracks towards home. We were still undecided if we could or should make it to Dumont. The days of traveling and riding all the different dunes were finally catching up to us. My friend checked the weather report, which probably wasn’t a smart idea. He informed me that the daytime high was a balmy 118 degrees in Dumont. No, that’s not a typo. We pulled into Dumont around 7 pm, just as the sun was starting to set. I took out my thermometer at 8 pm, and it read 114 degrees. Brrrr! We suited up, rode out, and shot a few photos before the sun completely disappeared. Immediately following the last shutter snap, we ran for the trailer, where we practically sat on the air conditioner. At this point, my photo monkey…I mean Jim…was certain that I was trying to kill him. He lied motionless on the couch as we talked things over, deciding to head out for one quick night ride before we called it quits and headed home. He had a dead serious look on his face when he said, “One shot, one kill …make the photo count. I physically can’t take another pass at it if you miss! With that said, I assured him a quick ride and a good photo. So, here I sit, back at my desk at work, but instead of the jealousy that was eating away at me before, I’m the one my friends on the Internet message boards are all jealous of. I managed to hit four sand dunes in six days, and all the spots were right off the same road. Not too shabby of a work week, if you ask me!
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11-04-2009, 09:53 PM
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DC Member 
Location: LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ
DC Cash: 359,996
Gallery
0
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We usually ride only at Glamis but next year we are making an EPIC DUNE TRIP. My son and I will be doing our "EPIC DUNE TRIP #1" next year over Memorial Day weekend. We will be meeting our group from Modded Raptor - For the rider that can't leave anything STOCK! for the first Raptor Rally at St. Anthony's then head south to Little Sahara for a couple of days then on to Coral Pink Dunes then finally home back to Phoenix. It will be about a 10 -11 day Dune Trip. Can't wait to ride these new Dune's and best of all doing it with my son.
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2006 50th ANNIVERSARY RAPTOR 700 SE - AND YA, THE YELLOW IS THE FASTEST SE YAMAHA HAS EVER MADE...
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11-05-2009, 08:48 PM
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#7 (permalink) | |||||||||
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One Time At Sand Camp... 
Location: Sunny So Cal
DC Cash: 7,563,782
Gallery
426
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Quote:
YOu'll have to fully document this trip, do you have a helmet cam? |
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05-01-2010, 05:47 PM
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#10 (permalink) | |||||||||
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DC Member
Location: LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ
DC Cash: 359,996
Gallery
0
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Quote:
__________________
2006 50th ANNIVERSARY RAPTOR 700 SE - AND YA, THE YELLOW IS THE FASTEST SE YAMAHA HAS EVER MADE...
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