Pismo / Oceano Dunes recommendations?

[Overland Rich]

Hello All,

I am going down to Oceano Dunes in Pismo in about a month. I have only been there once, we had about an hour to kill, went for a short drive on the beach and left. I'd like to explore a bit more. I will have my 5 year old in the truck so nothing too hardcore. We will be 3 rigs, a 2014 Tundra with a 7" lift and 37's, my '08 tundra with a 3" lift and 33's and a bone stock 100 series land cruiser. All rigs will have young kids in them. I see on the map a "sand Highway" marked. Just looking for some safe easy stuff to explore with the kids while we are there.

Thanks for any recommendations!

 

[kevhes]

The dunes are completely open. Go out and explore. Sand highway is marked and will take you out towards comp hill I believe. Air down and go explore. You can’t really get lost out there. Just drive slow and watch for other people, there’s a lot. Especially on weekends.

 

[Superduty]

Air down, air down, air down. It makes a huge difference. 10 - 12 psi without beadlocks. Many ppl go to 25 and think they are aired down. Experiment at different air pressures. After experimenting at the higher pressures, that most ppl consider aired down, go down to 10.

Bring a tool to air down with. Bring a compressor to air up.

As mentioned above the dunes are open. Just start driving around and have fun. You can go as fast as you want and as slow as you want. Take on whatever you feel safe with.

Be prepared for wind on the beach in the afternoons usually.

Make sure you have a dune flag on each rig.

 

[slomatt]

The "sand highway" near the water is a few miles long and an easy drive, in fact we drove our MDX with bald tires at full street pressure all the way to the end of the road this summer. If you head inland into the dunes be sure to air down and bring some recovery gear, getting towed out of there is expensive.

 

[kevhes]

The "sand highway" near the water is a few miles long and an easy drive, in fact we drove our MDX with bald tires at full street pressure all the way to the end of the road this summer. If you head inland into the dunes be sure to air down and bring some recovery gear, getting towed out of there is expensive.

I think you’re mistaking the road everyone drives on ( along the water ) and sand high way. Sand highway is an actual “trail” with markers that goes through the dunes.

 

[Overland Rich]

Air down, air down, air down. It makes a huge difference. 10 - 12 psi without beadlocks. Many ppl go to 25 and think they are aired down. Experiment at different air pressures. After experimenting at the higher pressures, that most ppl consider aired down, go down to 10.

Bring a tool to air down with. Bring a compressor to air up.

As mentioned above the dunes are open. Just start driving around and have fun. You can go as fast as you want and as slow as you want. Take on whatever you feel safe with.

Be prepared for wind on the beach in the afternoons usually.

Make sure you have a dune flag on each rig.

I am running 33's on 18" rims and was planning to air down to 15 PSI, wasn't sure about getting down to 10, I worry about rolling a bead that low with my set up, what do you think?

We have ARB EZ deflators, compressors, maxtrax, bubba rope, soft shackles and a tree saver. Pretty much everything but a winch with us. We are traveling with a 9 year old in one rig, a 7 year old in one and a 5 year old and 1 year old in the other so we aren't going to do much that's crazy out there.

 

[Overland Rich]

The dunes are completely open. Go out and explore. Sand highway is marked and will take you out towards comp hill I believe. Air down and go explore. You can’t really get lost out there. Just drive slow and watch for other people, there’s a lot. Especially on weekends.

Yeah I was looking at the Sand Highway on the map, because we are traveling with young kids and it lightly modified rigs I want to stay away from any steep drop offs, is the sand highway a pretty safe trail out and back through the dunes? Also I have seen online some people getting lost trying to follow it and ending up at the locked gate of a distillery. Have you been there recently, is the trail pretty well marked these days for sand highway?

 

[Superduty]

Try 15 and go from there. You can experiment with going lower. If you don't get stuck then stick with 15.

Tow straps and ropes much better than a winch usually at Pismo. In 30+ years of going to Pismo I've only used a winch twice, but used tow straps countless times. Winches were used to upright rolled rigs.

 

[Superduty]

Yeah I was looking at the Sand Highway on the map, because we are traveling with young kids and it lightly modified rigs I want to stay away from any steep drop offs, is the sand highway a pretty safe trail out and back through the dunes? Also I have seen online some people getting lost trying to follow it and ending up at the locked gate of a distillery. Have you been there recently, is the trail pretty well marked these days for sand highway?

You can't really get lost at Pismo. It's very small. If you lose your way simply drive in one direction if you hit a fence go the other direction.

At night with heavy fog it can be a challenge sometimes.

I recommend you just start driving around. You will quickly figure out what you are comfortable with. You only need to do what you are comfortable with. If you get to the top of a dune and don't want to go down, don't.

You don't need a highly modified vehicle there.

 

[kevhes]

Yeah I was looking at the Sand Highway on the map, because we are traveling with young kids and it lightly modified rigs I want to stay away from any steep drop offs, is the sand highway a pretty safe trail out and back through the dunes? Also I have seen online some people getting lost trying to follow it and ending up at the locked gate of a distillery. Have you been there recently, is the trail pretty well marked these days for sand highway?

To be honest, I’ve seen a limo make it through sand highway. It’s mostly marked and there aren’t too many surprise drops unless you’re beading east and west. The wind creates the dunes and they’re coming from the ocean

 

[RangerBill]

Speaking from experience, try to resist growing overconfident as your comfort with the terrain increases. The sand is all the same color and drop-offs truly do appear out of nowhere. That's how I ended up hanging from my seatbelt in a '78 Blazer balanced on its nose. Thankfully (and agonizingly slowly), it fell back onto the wheels and didn't continue all the way over. There were three of us in the rig and none of us saw the drop until we were airborne. No real damage done, but we took a much more cautious approach for the rest of the day.

 

[Overland Rich]

I have another question. I have heard and seen some videos of the river crossing being gnarly and some people frankly making some pretty bad decisions there. It looks like that crossing is about a mile down the beach, I've been to it once but it was 10 years ago and I can't remember. Is there another access point from the road south of the river crossing that would allow you to explore the dunes without making the crossing or do you have to make that crossing to get to the dunes? We are going in February so depending on rains there's a chance that thing is flowing at a level I don't want to cross.

 

[Overland Rich]

Speaking from experience, try to resist growing overconfident as your comfort with the terrain increases. The sand is all the same color and drop-offs truly do appear out of nowhere. That's how I ended up hanging from my seatbelt in a '78 Blazer balanced on its nose. Thankfully (and agonizingly slowly), it fell back onto the wheels and didn't continue all the way over. There were three of us in the rig and none of us saw the drop until we were airborne. No real damage done, but we took a much more cautious approach for the rest of the day.

Yeah I hear ya that's why if that Sand Highway trail is well marked and free of drop offs I will stick to that with the kids in the rig!

 

[itsdchz]

I have another question. I have heard and seen some videos of the river crossing being gnarly and some people frankly making some pretty bad decisions there. It looks like that crossing is about a mile down the beach, I've been to it once but it was 10 years ago and I can't remember. Is there another access point from the road south of the river crossing that would allow you to explore the dunes without making the crossing or do you have to make that crossing to get to the dunes? We are going in February so depending on rains there's a chance that thing is flowing at a level I don't want to cross.

They re-routed the river from what you may have seen. It used to be very bad. Now if it goes halfway up your wheels,. thats a bad day. You will be fine now as, unless there is horrible flooding that only happens 1-2 times a year, there is nothing to worry about. As other said, take it easy and slow. It usually isnt you that you need to worry about, it is the idiot people who ruin it for everyone else that causes the issues. Air Down is key, and ask for help if needed. They do typically have air stations on busier times and weekends, but they charge.

A couple videos of the area. No dunes, just the beach:


[/MEDIA]

 

[kevhes]

Yeah no concern with the water crossing. If you by some chance catch it on a bad day, you can always just wait for the tide to change.

 

[slomatt]

I think you’re mistaking the road everyone drives on ( along the water ) and sand high way. Sand highway is an actual “trail” with markers that goes through the dunes.

My bad, thanks for the clarification.

 

[Sandracer]

Like everyone has said Pismo is actually pretty mellow. Start at 15psi and go from there. This time of year the sand is usually pretty good. Watch the drop offs & Witches Eyes, especially when traveling from the ocean inland. I also recommend running a flag for visibility, especially on the weekends. Take your time, look before you drop over a dune. Just like any off road driving staying alert and watching the terrain ahead is key.

 

[Overland Rich]

Thanks everyone for the great info! For those of you that have spent a lot of time down there are there any inland trails that are easy to moderate that are really fun or end in a great view that we should check out while we are down there?

 

[SashaLee]

Hello All,

I am going down to Oceano Dunes in Pismo in about a month. I have only been there once, we had about an hour to kill, went for a short drive on the beach and left. I'd like to explore a bit more. I will have my 5 year old in the truck so nothing too hardcore. We will be 3 rigs, a 2014 Tundra with a 7" lift and 37's, my '08 tundra with a 3" lift and 33's and a bone stock 100 series land cruiser. All rigs will have young kids in them. I see on the map a "sand Highway" marked. Just looking for some safe easy stuff to explore with the kids while we are there.

Thanks for any recommendations!

When are you going? Maybe we can come up. I've been wanting to check it out. I have a 7 year old and a brown lab mix. Sometimes the husband gets to come. I'm driving a LexusGX with light mods but mostly stock. Are you camping too?

 

[Overland California]

Like everyone has said Pismo is actually pretty mellow. Start at 15psi and go from there. This time of year the sand is usually pretty good. Watch the drop offs & Witches Eyes, especially when traveling from the ocean inland. I also recommend running a flag for visibility, especially on the weekends. Take your time, look before you drop over a dune. Just like any off road driving staying alert and watching the terrain ahead is key.

Two real good points here:
1. The dunes drop off steeply going away from the ocean. Go slow away from the ocean and quicker coming back.
2. Flags are actually a requirement in the dunes. You can get a ticket if you don't have one. Spend the $10 on Amazon or near the entrance to keep everyone a bit safer.
3. Try to avoid stopping on a dune sideways. Back up straight and hit it again. Don't try to turn out of it.