dunefreak

Good times are here again! Dune season kicked off Halloween weekend bringing back the energy of the pre-recession days of Dumont Dunes. Let's face it. Some of the holiday weekends over the past 5-6 years have been rather stale and low on attendance. This year seemed a bit different though. There was an added element of vitality and excitement in the air. This recent boom may have been sparked by the side x side craze. Back in the day, duners would acquire big ticket sand toys by using their home equity. Nowadays, companies like Polaris and Can Am make it easy to finance a toy that the whole family can enjoy year round. Whether this is what reignited the spark or not, Halloween weekend definitely had a huge crowd as shown from duner, Chad Lozier’s, high flying drone. The BLM recorded 16,000 duners were in attendance. As if that didn't give us a good enough perspective, paragliders, Bill Baby and Ryan Thomas, flew overhead capturing the view from their own bird's eye view. Talk about the best seat in the house! Vendor Row was lacking a few vendors this year compared to other years, however duners still got over there as early as Friday morning to cash in on early weekend deals and to get some dune shopping in. Beefy Boys BBQ served up breakfast, lunch and dinner while California Casuals offered their famous holiday weekend t-shirts that almost every duner has owned at some point. The weather was overcast a good portion of the weekend, but the sun managed to break through the clouds making for some much needed A/C time in the RV. Temperatures were warm all weekend ranging from the low 70's after the sun went down to 93 degrees on Saturday afternoon! It was shorts weather all day and into the night. Campfires weren't even fired up until late. Speaking of weather, the recent rain that hit Dumont that Monday and Tuesday before Halloween weekend made for some choppy sand conditions. The dunes were already tracked and rutted out as early as Friday morning. So much for a smooth dune run before the crowds rolled in! That sand was wet underneath all weekend. It didn't stop everyone from having fun though. Just getting back to the sandbox after a long summer was good enough. The BLM opened their doors to the visitor center. Park Ranger Art provided safety and wildlife information and let duners pet the lizards and snakes that were on display. Rangers and medical staff were ready and responded to a few accidents throughout the weekend. One fatality was reported when a Banshee rider was unable to stop at the top of Banshee Hill. Full story here. Once the sun went down on Saturday it was Trick-or-Treat time! Little duners and even some of the parents got into costume and went camp to camp for candy. Dumont is arguably the best way to spend Halloween for kids and adults. Duners decorated their camps and really got into the spirit out there as always. This year we saw the Star Wars crew, dinosaurs, nuns, pimps, and lots of Donald Trumps! Comp Hill was literally lit up with lighted whips that stretched 5+ rows back. Drones were flying around with ghosts hanging from them, the Star Wars Landspeeder was making it's rounds passing out candy and taking pictures with everyone, and there was the loudest stereo system in the world blasting music from the front row into the crowd. That's not all. People were actually racing this year too. Imagine that...racing at Competition Hill. Let's not forget the famous McFlurry. It was in tow up and down the aisles as people cheered it on. Video presented by Bruner Racing Drone footage by Jeff Bruner and Jimmy Redmond Sunday morning started as another overcast day. The sun came out for a minute, then out of nowhere there were 30+ mph winds blowing sand and dust so hard that it was impossible to see across the camp area. It came at an unfortunate time for duners as most were just getting packed up. Some of the people who were camped in tents faced even more of a challenge. The wind turned their dune home into a hang glider! As we all know, this "W" word is what makes Dumont so awful and great at the same time. It can ruin our day of duning but at the same time fix the place right back up after a busy weekend. Come Monday, the dunes were back to how we love them, nice and smooth. For more pics and trip reports, check out the Halloween thread on the forum... More photos from our social media have been posted in the gallery... Next up, Thanksgiving! It's only a few weeks away. Start getting those dune toys ready now because it will be here before you know it.