Hunter
Adventurer
Over Prez Day Weekend, I went out the Imperial Sand dunes in the southwest CA. I camped with some friends of mine where we stayed at Gordon's Well. It is located, just north of I-8. I have ben to the dunes many times, but usually have kept it limited to staying in the general area. This trip, most of my companions had ATV's and I had just brought the truck.
With that in mind, I got to do something that I have always wanted to try, drive the entire border of the sand dunes. Turns out it is about a 50 mile trip.
Imperial Sand Dunes is is roughly shaped like a long rectangle running north to south. Starting at Gordon's Well, I head east along the bottom and went for the western border. Here is a shot looking north. At this point, I was faceting the toughest leg of the trip.. in being that I wasn't familiar with the section of dunes and I was prepared for a lot of digging.
It turned out the section wasn't bad at all and in retrospect, I would have had taken some tougher lines for the challenge of it. But there is a nice trail and it went quick. I got to the eastern edge which a good section is bordered by the railroad tracks. I happen to be somewhat of a railfan so I couldn't help but take this picture. It was just too cool. This section more or less makes up a 15 mile section of dirt road.
I got to the top, northen edge, which is Glamis. I have been her emany times and its alwaysa ball. I drive through vendor row, checked out some items and headed west. I got out into the dunes a bit and had lunch.
I worked my west and then turned south. After trying to help a broken Ford Excsurion that was stuck, I finally got free and headed down the "sand highway" and was on my way back south to camp. This is probably the most fun leg of the trip. In the dunes, cruisen' the whole way. This is my truck with the dunes off in the distance.
Total trip took about 7 hours with a lot of fussin', playin' and snackin'. Definatly a fun day trip and plenty of places to camp.
:26_16_2:
With that in mind, I got to do something that I have always wanted to try, drive the entire border of the sand dunes. Turns out it is about a 50 mile trip.
Imperial Sand Dunes is is roughly shaped like a long rectangle running north to south. Starting at Gordon's Well, I head east along the bottom and went for the western border. Here is a shot looking north. At this point, I was faceting the toughest leg of the trip.. in being that I wasn't familiar with the section of dunes and I was prepared for a lot of digging.
It turned out the section wasn't bad at all and in retrospect, I would have had taken some tougher lines for the challenge of it. But there is a nice trail and it went quick. I got to the eastern edge which a good section is bordered by the railroad tracks. I happen to be somewhat of a railfan so I couldn't help but take this picture. It was just too cool. This section more or less makes up a 15 mile section of dirt road.
I got to the top, northen edge, which is Glamis. I have been her emany times and its alwaysa ball. I drive through vendor row, checked out some items and headed west. I got out into the dunes a bit and had lunch.
I worked my west and then turned south. After trying to help a broken Ford Excsurion that was stuck, I finally got free and headed down the "sand highway" and was on my way back south to camp. This is probably the most fun leg of the trip. In the dunes, cruisen' the whole way. This is my truck with the dunes off in the distance.
Total trip took about 7 hours with a lot of fussin', playin' and snackin'. Definatly a fun day trip and plenty of places to camp.
:26_16_2:
