Dumont  Dunes

August 15th, 2006
By: staff report

It's Trick or Treat time at the Dumont Dunes! Friday, October 27, we headed north from Southern California on I15 to Baker, CA. From Baker we headed west and 34 miles later found the "cleverly marked" dirt road leading to the Dumont dunes OHV area. Upon arrival there was already a large group of fellow duners assembled. The camping area is a large flat dirt area right at the base of the towering Dumont Dunes. The dunes stretch eastward for about five miles and are about a mile wide.

Since my quad is being overhauled, Terry from Las Vegas was kind enough to loan me the cleanest 1988 TRX250R I have ever seen! Terry says he found it in someone' s garage and that it had hardly any time on it. The motor is still on its original factory bore and has never been apart. Other than a pipe, handlebars and a twist throttle, it is bone stock. I had forgotten how quick a stock 250R motor is---what a blast to ride!

We geared up for our first ride and headed for the dunes. As this was my first time at Dumont, I quickly discovered that these dunes have many razorbacks. The dunes are "rolling" and spaced just enough so there was minimal sudden drop-offs and witches eyes (holes in the sand created by the wind).

We rode on the eastern end of the dunes, riding from dune-to-dune like a huge roller coaster that you are in control of! Riding in large half bowls at a constant 4th and 5th gear, cresting the edge of the bowl while getting that adrenaline rush as you shoot over the top of the razorback cannot be matched. Picture this---three wheels off the ground as you go over the top, landing in the next bowl and then doing it all over again!!! We found a few sections that were small valleys with rolling dunes (bathtub like) on each side. We held it wide open going down one dune and up another, carving huge "S" shapes. That dune rush is back after a long off-season and it feels good!

We dropped into the lower areas on the backside (North side) of the dunes and headed over to Comp Hill to check out some of the action.  Comp Hill is a 1200-foot wall of sand shaped like a half moon. After watching the action for awhile, we headed back to camp.

On Saturday we woke up to hear the wind howling.  Plans called for us to head to the northern end of the dunes, staying on the outer edge. We rounded the tip of the dunes and explored many small sand hills and half bowls. Making our way down the other side of the dunes, we stopped at Comp Hill to watch a few people racing up the hill.We then continued down the edge of the dunes toward the southern tip of the dunes where we stopped for a break. The wind had stopped and the sun was out---it was a great day to be duning!

After a short rest, we headed back to camp to refuel and go on a fast dune ride. Five Hondas and one Yamaha following Howard, our dune leader, hit the dunes with force. First, we hit the "big bowl", which is the only full bowl at Dumont--and it's huge! We made our way toward the southern end of the dunes and found some very fast lines, which we rode over and over. Rolling from dune to dune and cresting razorbacks pinned in 5th gear is the best feeling ever!

We then went to Comp Hill to watch Howard and Terry claim King of the Hill. We saw a variety of machines such as Jeeps; sand rails, dirt bikers wearing G-strings, and, of course, lots of quads. After running the hill and taking a few pictures, we headed back to camp.

At camp, the kids were preparing to go Trick or Treating while everyone else made a tri-tip dinner with all the fixings. There were about 10 kids dressed up ready to collect candy! They went around our camp circle from motor home to motor home — twice! Smart kids! After the candy was gone, the kids gathered in a trailer to hear ghost stories while we sat by the campfire arguing who was the fastest at the hill earlier. Turns out we were all the fastest!


After the kids went to bed, we headed over to Comp Hill. It was packed! People were racing up and down the hills, bon fires were blazing and the smell of 2 stroke oil was in the air! We parked a few rows back from the base of the hill and walked up to the front. It was very dusty from the hill shooting and plenty of smoke from bon fires. The action was wild--we watched responsible off-roaders racing over and over, saw the G-stringed dirt biker collect dollar bills from women and saw plenty of drunken lunatics giving us a bad name. Thanks guys.

Upon returning to camp we saw a life flight helicopter land. They were there to pick up a guy with a punctured lung. Before the chopper took off, we were "privileged" enough to see a F250 roll 5 times down the face of a dune. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Sunday morning was more wind. Most of us wore goggles around the campsite just to be able to see. After a couple of hours, Matt and I decided that we needed one last dune ride before we headed home. Riding in the wind is challenging. Cresting razorbacks are always interesting in the wind, your goggles always get a blast of sand and the wind likes to "help" you over the razorback. Matt and I rode the dunes for awhile and ended up at Comp Hill. After a few friendly races, we headed for the dunes again when the 250R I was on decided to die. It was out of gas, which meant it is time to head back to pack up.

We had a blast at Dumont Dunes! Thanks to everyone for their hospitality and showing us around. See you in the dunes!