Above, Dennis roasts his Toyota up and through a gap in the endless sea of bumps that makes four wheeling fun in the sand. Below – yes, that is a sand road that leads to the beach – a little rain kinda filled up the roadway (fresh water). Not very good on a quad, awesome in a Jeep.

Written/Photography by Albert V

I have written about the Oregon Dunes a few times before. It always seems we need more time when we go and this trip was no exception. Our club, the Island Rock Crawlers, was planning a trip to the Rubicon in conjunction with the Nanaimo Sidewinders. It was to be my own "Return to the Rubicon" as the Rubicon was my first long distance trip I ever made to go four wheeling.

How times have changed.

With the magazine it is tough to go all that way for only one article so I convinced everyone they needed a stop on the Oregon Coast on the way down. As trips go this was a tough one with many of our group wrenching until the last minute (that never happens does it?) and some of our friends missed the opportunity to stretch their legs on the strip of sand along the coast which allows ATV and vehicle recreation.

We met in the campground at Honeyman State Park, just south of Florence. The dunes at Coos Bay are bigger but for our travel time it made more sense to meet at Florence. Unlike inland sand, the Oregon Dunes are a big beach and rain does happen – even in the summer months. This can be good and bad. The rain packs the sand and makes it easier to drive on, but well – it's raining.

After setting up my camp I found three of our travelers had made it into camp. The next morning Dennis Mullins in his 1985 Toyota and Kevin Erhart in his '47 Willys were slow to move but ready to go. Unbeknownst to us, a few of our fellow drivers reached the dunes late in the morning but we missed them for the tour of the sand.

A little wheelie action on the beach.

With our small group we headed to Show-off Hill, only to be stopped by park rangers, hitting us up for another $5 fee. My understanding is you need to pay for a parking pass if you are leaving a tow vehicle in the parking lots, but as we were going straight onto the sand it shouldn't apply. I have never paid for this before. However, we were told in no uncertain terms we had to pay the parking pass because we were in vehicles – a cash grab if you ever seen one. With another fin out of our pockets we reached the main parking lot at Show-off Hill.

Sand flags are a requirement for driving in the dunes, as is an Oregon ATV permit ($10 for two years), a worthwhile investment even for a day!

Dennis asked what tire pressure he should run, and when I mentioned anything below 5 psi would be perfect, he shot me a funny look. Dennis found out quickly I meant what I said as his BFG Krawlers sunk quickly just out of the parking lot at 10psi. After airing down some more, the effect was immediate. After a couple of runs up the big hill in the Toyota we wandered off into the sand.

Kevin Erhart gets a little side hill action in the bumps between the grass hills. You can see off in the distance the endless bumps that cover some of the areas in the dunes. Below Dennis and Kevin pick their way past a Tree Island. This shot was taken right before Kevin's t-case broke in half – yes, in half. The result was a long tow out to pavement to load up his Willys on a trailer.

Just above the big hill there is a large, open shallow bowl. It's a great place to dig your tires in and feel what it is like to bump up some hills, buzz around some grass-covered knolls, and shoot a few curves on some sandy hillsides. As I try to hit the dunes at least once a year, it was fun to see the faces of the other drivers as they got into the sand-driving gig.

After a few test laps we headed towards the ocean and the bumps that can be found all along the higher sections of sand along the way. The quads have cut narrow notches through the invasive grasses creeping their way inland. These routes are perfect for a down-sized 4x4 to shoot through curves and have some fun with. The narrow slots mean jamming your rig into the sand banks at every turn. Following a few laps out in the open sand we headed for the beach. I did mention rain right?

When we found a sand road leading to the beach through the thick brush that covers most of the beachhead, there were warning signs that the road was flooded. So like any good wheeler, rather than turn around or find another route, I went first – after all, I had a snorkel! While the road wouldn't be useable on a quad, the water never got deeper than 3 feet, and our rigs were more than capable to ford the water.

The sights never end. From a 1968 Camaro on paddle tires, to countless quads twisting through the bumps on a group ride, the dunes are enjoyed by a wide range of ATV's. The shifting sand also means that no two visits are ever alike!

The sand road dumped us onto the beach where a bunch of quads were doing their thing. The wind was a bit much so another romp through the water took us back inland. As this was supposed to be a short stop, we started working our way back towards camp. We were taking the "scenic" route through every bump and drop we could find when all of a sudden I couldn't see our other two rigs behind me.

After searching through the dunes I found Kevin had a broken truck. Not a little break but a 'split the t-case in half' kinda break. Looked like the Willys was done for the day. With a tug strap job from Dennis and my scouting the easiest way out of the dunes we found our way to the quickest exit to load up the Willys on the trailer.

While this did put a kibosh on the second leg of our trip, we convinced Kevin and his passenger Dave that we had plenty of seats and even though the Willys wasn't going to be "Rubicon ready", the trip was still a go. After all, a holiday is a holiday. We recounted our exploits to the other drivers who had joined us, who cursed for not making it in time but vowed to join us on another trip to the dunes.

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