Half of the area is closed to motorized vehicles, so these areas of sand remain nice and packed down. In fact, it rained during the evenings, which packed things down even further. The fatbiking conditions were the snowboarding equivalent to a perfect powder day.
Day 1- Friday Evening
This was our first glimpse of the dunes- one, big, giant playground
Donnie and I worked our way down to the beach for the sunset
We rode back through the dunes with our lights off. Highly recommended.
Day 2- Saturday
The goal for the day was simple- ride through the dunes, head north up the beach, find some food and beer, roll back down through the dunes in the dark again. Our pal and new fatbike owner, Dan Powell, joined us for the rest of the weekend.
We stayed at Tugman State park in a little yurt. For $39/night you get heat, electricity, an outdoor area to cook, three beds and a place to throw your beer cans. While the nearby showers were barely lukewarm, it was hard to complain when we were 1 mile from the dunes
This red skinned newt kept crawling under my tire. They were all over the trail
Floating seafood shack. Heat. Beer on tap. Really fresh chow.
Negative low tides allow you to ride on weird shit, like this invisible sandbar
Day 3- Sunday
After 2 stellar days of riding, day 3 felt like a bonus day. We set out to explore the southern section of the dunes, which were bordered by a river. We found natural half pipes, massive berms and more high speed rollers to launch off.
This was, by far, the best fatbiking I've done since I first rode a fatbike in 2004. I'm almost embarrassed that it took me 4 years of living in Oregon to finally make the 4-hour drive from Portland.
There is a much better write up on this trip entitled, Foreverscape by Dan Powell, in issue #4 of Bunyan Velo magazine. Turn to page 56
