The Long Pull to St Anthonys Dunes:

Maynard spent most last dune season sick with three 6 cm ulcers and was unable to make most the trips.
So we planned this St Anthonys trip, then when we return home a long boating trip to Catalina for him.

Day one we over nighted it in Las Vegas at Sams Town RV Park.
Their price doubled when KOA took it over and they merged with the RV park next door.
In route we were passed by Jay Leno in his Morgan 3 wheeler:



Night two in route we are at the Golden Spike RV park in Brigham Utah.
Today we make the final pull into St Anthony Idaho.

With the GMC and 43' Toyhauler we have been holding 70 MPH easily.
It's a long, long pull. The Duramax never gives up on the steepest of climbs.

Tomorrow: Dune pix.

Pic taken with shitty iphone 5

Mormon farmers and ranchers visiting the dunes. Their families sleep in the farm vehicles.
The campground water main broke so it was a couple days no water.
We offered up our RV shower and bathroom.

You can tell Mormons because no morning coffee, no beer, no cussin', no vicious dogs.

The sand on St Anthonys is very fine, dust like.
A slight breeze erases the track marks.
Lots and lots of Razorbacks and Witch eyes.

Experienced a few "duels" with truckers towing dbbls on the I15.
They slow down then speed up when you try to pass.
The trick to blowing them off is the second you sense them slowing then you nail it to pass.
You'll see the smoke blow from their stacks when they hit the throttle and you blow by them. Beat them every time.
Especially on grades.

Oh man Ross, St Anthony's f'n rules. :thumbup:

How long are you staying there? Do you have enough fuel to make it to Choke Cherry and back? Looks like you're on the north end of the dunes.

Good times!!

rivermobster said:

Oh man Ross, St Anthony's f'n rules. :thumbup:

How long are you staying there? Do you have enough fuel to make it to Choke Cherry and back? Looks like you're on the north end of the dunes.

Good times!!

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Choke cherry today.
Rzrs can run almost all day on a tank full.
Nice cool weather.
Maybe leave later this week.
A Balaclava is essential:

TPC said:

Choke cherry today.
Rzrs can run almost all day on a tank full.
Nice cool weather.
Maybe leave later this week.
A Balaclava is essential:

Click to expand...

Awesome Ross. Do you know where the stair steps are?? Not sure if you can get to the top in a razor, trails are tight, but I think you should give it a try. The views from the top are awesome.

Subscribed! Have fun, looking forward to pix and a full ride report!

How's the water level at Lake Elgin(sp?)? Did ya remember a rope and a wake board?



View from the top of the stair steps...

Drinking beer with "Jack" Mormons:


Our camp:

rivermobster said:

How's the water level at Lake Elgin(sp?)? Did ya remember a rope and a wake board?

View attachment 413671

View from the top of the stair steps...

View attachment 413672 View attachment 413673 View attachment 413674

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The kids immediately walked across it.

rivermobster said:

Awesome Ross. Do you know where the stair steps are?? Not sure if you can get to the top in a razor, trails are tight, but I think you should give it a try. The views from the top are awesome.

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Some old Dune buzzard wandered up and we'll hit him for directions.
Thanks for the tip. :thumbup:

I think that's the spot you can see the Grand Tetons from.
Wifie gave some meds for my neuropathy and I feel like I just slammed a hot load of heroin so Maynard will have to drive.The beers with the Jack Mormons amplifired it all too.

Rain Delay:



Some friendly old buzzards came up to our camp and wanted to chat.
They eventually introduced us to just about everyone in the RV park.

The Arctic Cat sxs's have been getting bad reviews for their quality.
Leaking engines, failing clutches and transmissions, lot's of issues.
One family had the latest Wildcat 1000 with about 700 hours and was really happy with it.
No problems at all.

They are still trying to digest the prices for quality sand tires and wheels. $3200 and haven't made that move until they are sure the Wildcat isn't a lemon.
Everyone we know that has the cheap wheel and tires has eventually had issues. They dent, come apart, wobble, peel,, delaminate,, everything ya don't want to happen.
Ya get what ya pay for, and Sand Tires unlimited/FST backs up all their stuff with no hassle.

Rumor at our local Harley dealer that just picked up the Wildcat line is that AC is in a joint venture with Yamaha to bring out a steamer.
These rumors are just rumors but I hope so.

Fantastic suspension on the Wildcat but the Rzr 1000 has the speed and power over it. I pull away easily.



The RZR guys can argue it all they want but the Wildcat really rides nice over the whoops and bumps. And with more proper suspension you can go faster.

The Wildcat 1000. Comes in a wild 4 seater too::


Big Guns was the last to use our Rzr and it always runs and rides better after he's used it.
Damfino.
Maybe it's happy I'm not playing Big Guns music. I dunno.

Curious how big the overall dune area is? Im sure its not as big as Glamis but probably closer in size to Pismo with steep dunes like Dumont?

Ballsdeep said:

Curious how big the overall dune area is? Im sure its not as big as Glamis but probably closer in size to Pismo with steep dunes like Dumont?

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More akin to old Pismo before the massive closures, but still better.
Lots and lots of bowls here and jumpers paradise. Thousands of excellent jumps and bowls and as SxS' improve it'll be renown for that IMHO.

With the Glamis closed areas now re opened, Glamis has the edge IMHO.
Glamis is a 4 hour pull for most of us.
Idaho is a multi day adventure to get here.

Choke Cherry hill is an amazing competition style hill with few vehicles making it over the top as I write this.
After a few have come down it in reverse,, it's geometry will change slightly and a few LT cars with the right tires and power will make it over.

TPC said:

More akin to old Pismo before the massive closures, but still better.
Lots and lots of bowls here and jumpers paradise. Thousands of excellent jumps and bowls and as SxS' improve it'll be renown for that IMHO.

With the Glamis closed areas now re opened, Glamis has the edge IMHO.
Glamis is a 4 hour pull for most of us.
Idaho is a multi day adventure to get here.

Choke Cherry hill is an amazing competition style hill with few vehicles making it over the top as I write this.
After a few have come down it in reverse,, it's geometry will change slightly and a few LT cars with the right tires and power will make it over.

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Good assessment. St. Antony's is paradise for the big sand cars. You'll never get into fifth gear at glamis, but you can be in fifth at St Anthonys all day. The dunes are massive and open, unlike the tighter smaller dunes at Glamis. Pismo can't compare, nor can Oregon dunes for size.

But, the beauty in Oregon is stellar.

I've done St. Anthonys twice. As Ross said, the ONLY drawback is the drive.

rivermobster said:

Good assessment. St. Antony's is paradise for the big sand cars. You'll never get into fifth gear at glamis, but you can be in fifth at St Anthonys all day. The dunes are massive and open, unlike the tighter smaller dunes at Glamis. Pismo can't compare, nor can Oregon dunes for size.

But, the beauty in Oregon is stellar.

I've done St. Anthonys twice. As Ross said, the ONLY drawback is the drive.

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Whats the drive like to Oregon?

Ballsdeep said:

Whats the drive like to Oregon?

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We usually make the drive up part of the vacation. We stop at a nice spot just north of Sacramento (day one), then head to a spot in Oregon right on the river (i can get you all these names if you want). Day three (usually monday) we pull into where ever we are going.

Oregon is smart, they have the coast all split up into sections everyone can use. Off roaders have their section, hikers have their section, horseback riders have their section, then it starts all over again, all the way up the coast, so there are multiple off road spots to use.

Spinreel, Winchester, and Horsefall all the place I've been to, so far.

I can make it home from any of em, with one overnight stop, but it's a fucking grind for sure! :grumble:

Once you get past central california, the rest of the drive is gorgeous. :thumbsup

High winds, rain, hail and lightning storms.
Wifie slept in, Maynard worked on a computer program, I drank with the Jack Mormons.
No duning today:


Pic taken with a shitty iphone5

You guys had bad weather all day? Normally you just wait 10min, and everything changes again!

We got caught in a hail/wind storm, and just kept riding all the way out to Devils Bowl. By the time we got there, the weather had cleared, and we had an epic fifth gear, wide open, flat, wet sand ride all the way back to camp. That was probably the best ride of my life.

Of course...

We paid dearly for it when we got back! Camp was destroyed, the chicks were all PISSED, and we had to go find all our easy ups and chairs. It was worth all the ass chewing we got. :thumbsup:thumbsup

Hope you have better weather today. :cool

Thunder hill;
Hill:

Maynard makes it up Choke Cherry Hill:





Glamis LT cars made the pull from Arizona:


Lake Egin:

You guys made the rounds. Nice! 👍

TPC said:

Thunder hill;

Hill:

Maynard makes it up Choke Cherry Hill:

Glamis LT cars made the pull from Arizona:

Lake Egin:

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Great Pics, keep them coming!:thumbup::thumbup:

rivermobster said:

You guys made the rounds. Nice! 

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The bowls behind Choke Cherry are monster. Epic, colossal. Fifth gear the kids say full throttle for all of us.
Fantastic.

TPC said:

The bowls behind Choke Cherry are monster. Epic, colossal. Fifth gear the kids say full throttle for all of us.
Fantastic.

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There really is nothing like it.

And after a storm no less! It's like water skiing on perfect glass.

Enjoy friend. You earned it. [emoji106] [emoji106]

rivermobster said:

There really is nothing like it.

And after a storm no less! It's like water skiing on perfect glass.

Enjoy friend. You earned it. [emoji106] [emoji106]

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As good as duning gets.
I like it better than Glamis,, but that drive from So Cali,,,,,,

TPC said:

As good as duning gets.
I like it better than Glamis,, but that drive from So Cali,,,,,,

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Yep. Agree.

Glamis dunes are small and tight. SA dunes are f'n huge.

You guys find your way to the top of the stair steps yet? If you look real close at the pics I took/posted, you should be able to figure out where they are.

When you run into the fence, you'll know you're at the top!

Stock tires that come with most RVs are junk.

We left home and stopped at Americas to install 6 ea, 235 85 16 trailer tires that I had ordered.
Our 5'r has "articulating" rear axles so ya can't run 85's, you have to run 80's we found out while installing them.
So,, they put the six 85's into stock and only had 4 80's in stock to use.

Leaving Idaho, I noticed the remaining two stock tires treads starting to separate with only 3500 miles on them. This is the reason I ordered all new tires.
So we found a Discount aka Americas in Salt Lake city and were able to replace the two remaining bad tires.

Made it from St Anthonys to Las Vegas in about 16 hours with the stop at the tire store.

It was treacherous navigating the Virgin Canyon road work. Less than 12" clearance on both sides for several miles. Especially tough being road punchy after 14 + hours on the road.

It was a great trip and I can punch another item off the bucket list.

Nice crowd in the camp ground and on the dunes at St Anthonys.
We met a group of Mormons with Rzrs we rode with one day.
They were bracing for me to bust out the beer and Jaeger but I refrained.

We'd do a St Anthonys trip again but with group of our own friends.

Next week: Catalina.

Neighbor campers Stacker trailer:

ATV elevates up then rolls onto the loft in front of it:

Welcome home. Post some more pics when you can. :thumbsup

LT cars with Arizona flags at Choke Cherry:


Dunecat: