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Supereri73's avatar
Supereri73
Explorer
Dec 08, 2015

Camping suggestions

Ok, we (wife, two boys, and myself) live in Phoenix AZ. We are looking to go camping the day after Christmas through the 1st. We are open to anywhere within 7 or 8 hours of Phoenix. This would open up AZ, NV, parts of CA, and UT.

We have a 4 seat RZR and will probably be buying a quad in the next few days. We will be towing a 36ft 5th wheel.

So it doesn't have to be monster riding area. I want it to be low key, if we're the only ones out that would be awesome. I'm completely open, I would actually prefer, to be boondocking. The weather can't be toooooo cold (no snow).

I've never been to any of the Dunes (Glamis, Dumont...) and honestly I'm a little nervous about them. I would rather go with a knowledgeable person the first time and I'm concerned they might be a little more rowdy than we would prefer. But, that's just my preconceived notion.

So please, let me hear your suggestions.

20 Replies

  • Thanks for all the suggestions!! I'm thinking Valley of Fire in NV looks interesting. Hopefully during the week it will be fairly quiet.
  • I forgot to mention there is also lots of desert riding at Dumont, one day while we were there i took the rhino up Sperry Creek, its at the entrance to Dumont, no dunes and it had water running in the creek, lots of fun!!!

    Dumont is my favorite place on earth to camp and ride, i especially enjoyed Thanks Giving cause i like vendor row, the goodies to buy and the food!!!

    Everyone is friendly and helpfull
  • Supereri73 wrote:
    Strabo wrote:
    Just got back from Dumont, what an amazing place!!

    You gotta experience it :)


    Are you an experienced Dune dweller or first time at a dune? Did you go with experienced duners?

    I'll be honest, my biggest fear with dunes is safety. I had an incident in the RZR on a local trail here in Phoenix. I was coming out of a wash and met a quad coming the other way. We didn't hit, but it was sooooo close. I can't imagine I or my family would have been hurt, but I can hardly stand the thought of hurting someone else.

    I see the videos on youtube of people hitting others and it scares the @#$% out of me. I don't know the dune rules and would hate to get someone hurt.

    Am I being overly paranoid?


    No crowds, easy small dunes to play on, its not like glamis, much smaller and fun.
  • I avoid crowds or where the high powered machines play for the same reason. We have flags and I run bright LED lights during the day in congested areas so we can be seen better. We carry liability insurance on our vehicles if we were at fault, but we would most likely come out much better than quad or motorcycle hitting our vehicles with cages.
  • Strabo wrote:
    Just got back from Dumont, what an amazing place!!

    You gotta experience it :)


    Are you an experienced Dune dweller or first time at a dune? Did you go with experienced duners?

    I'll be honest, my biggest fear with dunes is safety. I had an incident in the RZR on a local trail here in Phoenix. I was coming out of a wash and met a quad coming the other way. We didn't hit, but it was sooooo close. I can't imagine I or my family would have been hurt, but I can hardly stand the thought of hurting someone else.

    I see the videos on youtube of people hitting others and it scares the @#$% out of me. I don't know the dune rules and would hate to get someone hurt.

    Am I being overly paranoid?
  • Searching_Ut wrote:
    I like riding at Utah's Sand Hollow State Park during that time of year, but the weather can be hit or miss as to how cold it might get. Fairly good chance of below freezing temps at night. You'll find this area between St George Utah and Zion National Park. Here you have Sand Dune options, or some pretty good rock crawling stuff. Myself I even prefer it if you get a little snow, but that doesn't happen often.

    Another option is the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. It can get crowded on the weekends during the winter months, but it is generally fairly good weather wise.

    Make sure you let us know where you end up and how it went. Sounds like a potentially great adventure.

    My buddy just posted a video from Valley of Fire:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aapuEgN_2NU

    We haven't made it there yet, but some other places we have visited close to you were Salton Sea/Truckhaven and Needles/Pirates Cove.
  • Just got back from Dumont, what an amazing place!!

    You gotta experience it :)
  • There are blm free places on the east side of the dunes along Ogilby rd north of the railroad tracks. You will be sitting on the west side of the Cargo Muchacho mountains. You can go back in a ways towards the mountains so that you can access the trails back there without dusting everyone out who is parked more towards the road.

    Ogilby rd exit north of 8, along Ogilby rd it's pay for ltva blm camping with tons of room.

    If you go a few miles farther west oon 8 you will come to grays well road with blm camping and dune riding. Dune permit is required. I wouldn't worry about it as there appears to be open riding area that dont put you in the deepest part of the dunes. The Glamis area may be a little more action packed.

    I also stayed up at big river blm land just outside Parker. You can go back in a ways and ride the trails toward the mountains. Same issue with the dust. Watch closely as your gps zeros in. Don't go past the nub of a hill as you go back in. You will see that it gets much too rough.

    On the other side of Parker is an area called swansea. I have driven through there but not stayed. you have to go out a ways to get to the area where camping and riding is allowed. There is an info board that is a couple hundred feet from the highway. Poor cell signal out there.


    We stayed along Plamosa road between Bouse and Giss pass and there seem to be a lot of trails around there but check the blm trail maps for these areas before going. There is a fourwheels club in bouse that has some info on their website.

    These places are on freecampsites.net
  • I like riding at Utah's Sand Hollow State Park during that time of year, but the weather can be hit or miss as to how cold it might get. Fairly good chance of below freezing temps at night. You'll find this area between St George Utah and Zion National Park. Here you have Sand Dune options, or some pretty good rock crawling stuff. Myself I even prefer it if you get a little snow, but that doesn't happen often.

    Another option is the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. It can get crowded on the weekends during the winter months, but it is generally fairly good weather wise.

    Make sure you let us know where you end up and how it went. Sounds like a potentially great adventure.