a.k.a. Pismo Beach

Contents:

• Trip Notices
• What's There
• Trip Reports
• Driving In Sand
  
• For more information:
  • The state's Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area web page
  • The SVRA maintains a web site with more detailed information

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What's there?

The park consists of the most extensive coast dunes in California.

Special Requirements:

All vehicles in the OHV area are required to be equipped with an 8' whip with an orange or red flag with a minimum size of 6" x 12". Flags are available locally at stores near the OHV area, however, I chose to make my own.

Here's how I did it. I have a fireplace at home and burn a lot of wood in the winter for heat. I ended up buying a chimney cleaning brush and have several sections of fiberglass extension rod that I don't need for cleaning my chimney. These are 4' sections with threaded ends to allow easy assembly. I just drilled a suitable hole in the diamond-plate decking on my front bumper and attached the pole to that.

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Trip Reports:

• 03.OCT.1998

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03.OCT.1998:

We had a fairly good group of (mainly Toyota) 4x4s meet for a weekend at the beach. Among the attendees were:

• Scott and Jenn in Scott's '88 4Runner
• Chris and Brian in his '93 4Runner
• Jack and Bev in their new (to them) pickup
• Ken in his new (to him) Xtra Cab pickup
• Jon in his turbo-equipped '86 4Runner
• Me in my '85 4Runner
• Mike Medhart in his Xtra Cab pickup
• Randy in a 5.0 equipped Bronco
• and a bunch more...

Our group arrived after dark Friday after battling the weekend traffic getting out of the Bay Area. We contacted the group at the creek crossing by CB as we dropped into town. After airing down, we crossed the creek and headed out to camp on the Sand Highway. After setting up camp, we headed out for some night wheeling, first-timers climbing in with veterans. Right off the bat, we had to dig and pull out a full-sized pickup stuck in a hole right above camp. After some outrageous drops down dune faces, some "bowling" and hill climbing, we returned to camp around midnight. Several of us hit the sack while the rest returned for a few more hours of fun.

The next morning dawned with clear skies. Some of the group headed into town for breakfast. The rest of us went out to play in the sand. There was a lot of discussion about what air pressure to run in ones tires. Some of the Pismo veterans suggested 10 PSI so that's what I tried. By the time I got a pressure I liked, I was running 10 PSI total (2.5 in each tire, gotta love that new digital tire gauge I picked up the day before - reads to 1 psi in 1/2 psi increments).

At 2.5 pounds, the sidewalls on the Swampers were just starting to wrinkle. I found I could crawl up hills that others needed momentum to get up (at least my Marlin gears were good for some fun in the sand). In the lowest gear, you could get out of the truck and watch it climb in the sand. Here, I'm trying to hold the truck back and its pushing me through the sand. ANother fun trick was to put your foot in front of a tire and let it roll over your foot.

Only place I had problems were on the tall, steep dunes where lots of momentum and tire speed were required. I found my engine stalling in low-3rd, although once I was able to speed shift into 2nd and pull over the top of the dune. It stayed clear the whole time we were there, although the wind really picked up in the afternoon. Nearly got stuck in one deep hole, had the front and rear bumpers buried and it took about 10 back and forths to get turned enough to drive out.

I plan on returning and trying out my 33x9.50 BFG M/Ts on the sand for a comparison. I imagine they will not float as good, but they may have less drag and allow higher tire speeds to let me get up the taller dunes.

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Driving in Sand:

Here are some basic sand-driving techniques:

• Air down, way down, then air down some more.
  • If your engine overheats, air down.
  • If your tires dig in, air down.
  • If you get stuck, air down.
  • After running for a while, check the air pressure.
    • Aired-down tires tend to heat up and raise the internal pressure, if this happens, air down.
  • If your tire looses a bead, you've aired down just a bit too much :-)
  • Harry Lewellyn's article on "Tire Pressures for 4-Wheeling" is an excellent primer on the subject.
  • Niel Winnemore's article on "Ritual Tire Bleeding" is also excellent reading.
  • Point of reference:
    • In my first sand trip, I started out at 10psi in 33x15.50 Swampers on my 4Runner (~4000 lbs). Before I was happy with the situation, I was down in the 2psi range and probably could have gone lower.
  • I found my 4Air tire deflation system was very useful for getting all 4 tires to an equal pressure, as 1 or 2 psi made a huge difference.
• Avoid using the brakes to stop, coast to a stop instead (which happens quickly on sand).
  • That's so you don't build a 'berm' in front of the tire making it difficult to restart.
  • You may want to actually back up a bit after stopping to leave a packed take-off track.
  • Also try to stop on the flat or facing slightly downhill. Starting out on an uphill grade may leave you stuck.
• Be careful with tire spin on the sand, as tire spinning can cause you to dig down.
  • Open diffs can allow one tire on an axle to spin.
  • Lockers and LSD will force both tires on an axle to spin, but won't prevent it from happening.
  • If a tire starts to break loose, get off the gas immediately and back out before you dig in.
  • If you have dug a deep rut, back up and go around it rather than back through it.
• Slow-gentle starts are good to keep from digging in.
• Stay away from the water's edge at low tide.
  • Too many cars have died there to be claimed by the advancing tide!
  • And that salt water (at ocean dunes) is murder on steel frames and bodies.
• Learn the lay of the dunes and how the prevailing winds have shaped them.
  • Generally, they are gradually sloped on the windward side and very steep on the leeward side.
  • The sand is usually *very* soft on the leeward side or any place sheltered from the wind.
• You may want to consider bringing somewhat special recovery gear, including:
  • A board at least 12" x 12" for under your jack, otherwise it'll sink out of sight.
  • Strips of carpet 12" x 6' or so may get you out of a stuck.
  • A long "snatch strap" or good rope for pulling a stuck vehicle out. In sand, you probably won't have very good luck trying to pull or winch a stuck vehicle out, no way for the pulling rig to get enough traction. A little bit of momentum transfered through the strap may be enough to pop the stuck rig out.

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[Last updated: 08.August.2023 ]