Landsandcrab

Cool, sounds good man. I'll message you on my way out w/camp location

Thx, dirtbikeguy when's your next trip? I'm maybe going out Dec 13-15th. Let's ride! No more 2 stroke for me, just got a 450!!

Great stories and pictures everyone. Hope it continues to be a great season!

Sounds bad, hope the rescue efforts went as well as can be expected

Man, sorry to hear. Hope you feel fast and get back out for some rides/drives December!

Thanks Mr Rhino. Hope to see some of ya out there in December. We may camp up with a bunch of Norcal guys over the Christmas holiday. Just a quick trip since that is quite the busy work time up in the mountains.

2nd trip this season in the bag, clear and practically windless, good unless you're a wind farmer or a glider. After 3 years of the little dunes, it's time to move it on over to the Bigs. Great choice, lots more action, although the restrooms are an absolute disaster. I don't throw that term around lightly, but come on, where are our season pass funds going to.....no toliet paper, dookie on the seat, floor, in the piles of sand/paper....I've seen more "attractive" bathroom situations in a public park in Barstow. Again, wow, guess that's how it goes but come on, it's a few weeks after Halloween. Anyway, on with the report! You guys/ladies where correct, there's no bad camp spot. I arrived on Wednesday night after work, quick night ride and camp set up before campfire. There were about 15 rigs come morning light. About 10 more arrived before sundown. Friday morning they started pouring in, more people then I expected midweek/Thursday. 8 buggies came from a camp on the ridge overlooking the pay station and were a blast to see shredding comp hill. The wonderful noises and turbos remind me of the drag racing days. Not to mention the smell of good ol race gas. A few side by side groups, mostly quads though, and even a few fellow 2 wheelers. A duece too, plus a very busy Mercedes Benz testing team outfitted with the latest full size luxury selection in white, black and gold. They were literally trying to destory these SUVs, side hill testing in full sand mode, up in the big dunes, little dunes, actually a bit impressed they didn't roll or get stuck much. A quite the entertainment! The contrast to the sights from last month were mostly in the water levels. You'll get your tires wet but it's nice to see just enough water still. Those historic floods were epic though, glad I was around last month to witness it. Temps were in the high 60's Thurday, cool but not cold into the evening. 76 deg was the temp when I departed 1:30 Friday....yes, just about perfect. Not bad at all for mid Nov. Loved it. Did lots of riding but was hitting it with reserve since I'm riding a new to me bike. Ahhh, so much happier with a 450 than my old 250 smoker. Just following the natural progression....eventually that ends with a long travel v8 buggy if I'm not mistaken..... Here's the pics: Thursday sunset ride Lake Dumont was nice and glassy "Quicksand", anyone seen him before? Car has 4 paddles in the back and climbed like a beast All things sand: Board, bag, dunes Benz sand testing team Dune score! Gotta keep your eyes open for the treasures. Works fine. Anyone missing a tape? Easy access Minimal tracks Thurday am "Florence". Belongs to the Gypsy Timetravelers and lives currently in Tecopa. Good people and worth the trip to see all the fabs/metal work BTW, who goes out midweek? It would be great to meet some fellow DDRs and I'm not one to just rush up on someones camp. Cheers!

Haha! I just saw your YouTube video about 3 days ago! Nice set up, not bad for 2wd! Hey didn't I just see ur video on YouTube? Just a few days ago.....not bad for 2wd! Nice camp spot, the soft sand is the best eh??

Good thing I have Verizon. I've seen riders at top of the small ridges and figured that's what they were doing. Thanks for the info! Actually, the soft sand is my favorite, that's what 4 wheel drive is for.....hope those aren't FLW (famous last words)!

Not being able to do T day this year, got to get in a DD trip this month. I have a few joining me, first timers to DD, looks like the weather is steady and nice in the 70's. So, I've been riding here for the past 3 seasons and camp at the little dunes, but for now we are moving up and over to the Big Dunes. How is the cell coverage (reception is good near hwy, that's one of the reasons we are usually over there) in camp? Does anyone have any suggestions on best camping area? If any of y'all are around, look for our camp of 2-4 trucks with a gray enclosed trailer/white pop ups/camo netting. We ride dirt bikes, love a good time and hope to meet some more great folks this trip. Stop on by for a beer & say hi!

That road was covered n smothered as of Thursday morning. Flood water was still rushing. A day can make a big difference, sure by this morning it's passable but don't expect to keep your truck clean! I'm still blasting the sticky mud off my jeep. A member of our group sunk his bike in a crossing in Death Valley, damn water came up to his chest and he almost lost the bike! Probably no sperry wash riding this time. On a plus note....the sand....was.....awesome!! Felt really good to be back at DD!!

How many vendors are usually there on the holiday weekends? My wife and I are thinking of setting up a booth for goods and/or services in the future.

Dune entrance viewed from south

I was at Dumont and Tecopa Tues am - Thurs pm and wow that was a lot of rain, great conditions though, you'll have a blast! No worries on the routes, the worst was Tuesday/Wednesday, water completely over the hwy at Little dunes with no "flooded" signs yet! I got there about 9:30am on Tuesday and the flood water from the Armagosa had just reached the entrance to the little dunes, with mini lakes forming around both sides and over the road in front of the kiosks. Pretty interesting scene! Hearing the sound of rushing water in camp was a change! I walked over to check it out while some catering trucks that had stopped checked out the water levels, only up to my mid calf, so they continued and about an hour later CT showed up to sign it. I'll post some pics!

Need a break from the sand? There are amazing places to see in the general area, easy to access also. Here's a sample of my trip from May 12-13th (mostly in Sepia tone, because....why not) Some mine near Sheep Creek Springs, west of hwy 127 Very intact talc loading ramp Same area geo wonders Saratoga Springs area, west of hwy 127 Cool ramps/slides for talc mines, near Ibex Springs Yet another mine waiting to explore, if you dare One of my favorite shots of the trip Ibex Springs, thirty? Selfie within a selfie, double selfie! Ashford Mill ruins, Death Valley BIG mine, closed off, Death Valley warm springs camp Death Valley warm springs camp, great area for taking photos, all building are intact and in great shape Kinda lonely out here... Death Valley warm springs camp, trail to the warm spring source. The green in the shot is a giant fig tree, birch and grapevines Rusty machine Had the feeling I was being watched, then I saw these fellas. 5 or maybe 6 Bighorns, waiting on the ridge Tecopa Hot Springs, if you've not been you're missing out on some great therapy See you in the Fall DD!! What an awesome season!!

Really nice, blue on black works well. We'll look for you out there.

Maybe Tuesday...schedule and weather keeps shifting. How long you out there?

Ugh. Bad mojo spilling over from Baker possibly. Maybe I'll start camping over at the big dunes....

Be there 6th-8th. The weather looks great, shoot, it could even be a little warmer if you ask me.

Mountain biking is quite nice right bout now in the Big Bear area, come on up! We rode the last two days, spring training, good stuff. You can even shuttle Cougar Crest! They open the bike park on easter at Snow Summit, woot woot (with a new trail supposedly)! 1-2 more dune trips, then thinking about getting our boat in the water (06 Tahoe). Summer dual sporting in the San Berdoo Mtns is epic too.

Great job picking up! You girls and guys on the sxs or quads have it much easier than us 2 wheeled devils, I hope they were hitting up the bowls were the most bottles/cans just get left behind. I understand how the wind can blow things around at DD, but when you see it in the big dunes, esp glass, you just know some idiot who doesn't even deserve to use this amazing place chucked it w/out a 2nd thought. I agree with the laterns, they were everywhere. Ugh, I hate those white ice bags too! They just shred apart when they are left out there. Can't wait to head back out either first week or 2nd of April to have fun and see the clean dunes!

Those are good ideas. Let's see what they say before we stop cleaning up the spot we use and love.

Fantastic job!! It's great to see other dedicated duners out there! Look at that haul, wow!

Hey fellow duners, just wanted to share some clean up pics. The last three trips to Dumont, I've been picking up trash in a valley (around A14 on the map) where it seems to like to settle after being blown away from camps. The first trip I filled up 2 BIG trash bags, the second trip I filled up one BIG bag, the last trip (last week) I collected two BIG bags + 1 med bag. I kept a list of the stuff out there if anyone is interested. Here are some pics, hope that helps inspire others who can help make Dumont a cleaner/better place!! What I did notice was the insane amounts of trash IN the dunes...since I'm on a moto it's not really feasible for me to pick up trash in the dunes, but someone on a quad/sxs/buggy could just cruise around and have their pass pick up what they see. It's like a scavanger hunt! Here's some pics.....see you in the sand!! (next trip after Easter weekend) Cheers, Landsandcrab Moto trash hauler the bag that some nice person picked up before I could free chairs? treasure? ? the now clean valley did I mention the conditions were awesome

The wet sand was awesome! Too wet....not so much. That's part of enjoying the dunes...the changing conditions challange the drivers/riders so after awhile nothing surprises you. Although I wouldn't want to be out there in a major sandstorm!