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Glamis vs. Gordon's vs. Buttercup?


jaysea1

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Depends what type of riding you like to do, and your tolerance to big crowds. On an off weekend Glamis is not to bad to ride. I think Gordons has more technical dunes as compared to Glamis with its nice smooth bowls and flowing dunes. I guess to me its alll about which one is closer to you, and to me it happens to be Gordons so thts where I go.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys for all your opinions...I'm new to the dunes, I'll be coming from phoenix. I know how to get to Gordons (general area) Which exit off of 8 do you take? Gordon's exit :shootself: or do you guys get off somewhere else. I need to know the choice camp sites over there. Also do you guys like Patton's. How long does it take to get to Glamis from Phoenix?

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About 20 miles fron Yuma you will come onto the first off ramp to Buttercup valley. Buttercup is South of the freeway. If you take this off ramp you will come to a stop sigh, ( the roads are paved ) if you take the left turn , it will take you into the valley to a dead end turn around. There are about 3-4 restrooms along the road. You can camp, and ride anywhere along the road. You can also pull out onto the valley floor anywhere you want to, just watch for soft sand. At the stop sign, if you drive straight ahead , the paved road will take you about 2 miles to a dead end, you can camp and ride anywhere along the paved road, also there are rest rooms along this road also.

Just past the Buttercup off ramp Between the East, and West freeway lanes is a rest area with a water well, maintained by the state of Calif. where you can get good water.

If you continue West on the freeway about two miles past the Buttercup off ramp, you will come to the Gord :headbang: ons Well off ramp. After getting off the freeway you will come to a stop sign. Go left and you will come to the Pair a Dice , that is a small store, cafe, drinking hole place. Go right at the stop sign, and you will leave the pavement after a short distance, then cross a bridge over the canels , and buggy flats will be straight ahead. Also you will have to pay for a BLM camping permit . you have to pay to camp anywhere at the dunes. The pay stations are at the entrance to the camping areas.

You can camp and ride anywhere in the buggy flats area. As far as to where to camp, a lot of people like to go in as far as they can to be closer to the sand hills, just watch for soft sand so you don't get stuck.

As far as the riding area. At Buttercup the riding area is all around you, and it is a lot of fun, if you wanted to to go to the Pair a Dice, or the buggy flats riding area , you can ride thru the sand, about two miles to the West, to the Gordons Well overpass, the BLM has extended the overpass over the canel, and it is legal to ride your off road vehicle over it .

The buggy flats riding area is a pretty good area, there is a sand highway on the West side of the dunes that goes all the way to the Glamis area about 15-20 miles to the North, or anywhere in between. If you cross the sand highway and continue into the dunes , on the extreme South end will be the freeway hills . If you go North from the freeway hills you will come to what is referred to as Patton Valley , about 7-8 valleys to the North.

The way the dunes run. A set of dunes then, a valley between with a flat floor, then another set of dunes. The North side of the dunes will be sloping, easy to ride up, the South side will be very steep in the center, with sloping edges at the ends.

Watch out for the out of bounds markers for a protected weed. A lot of guys are ignoring the boundry markers, but all that does is make it harder for the Sand Assoc. to convince the courts to do away with the restrictions. :headbang:

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gordens is a great place to ride in for a beginner to dunes..the dunes are very nice in both size and form the flats are great for camping (there are no camp sites just make one for your self) and getting turned around and lost is a great possibility at a place you have never been..gordens has tken care of that problem. at the entrance to the dune buggy flats area (where you will camp) there is a big tower with a strobe light that you can see day or night if you head for the white flashing strobe you will find the camp area..on the other side of the dunes there is a red flashing strobe light..dont go to the red and you will be fine..there are dumpsters and a small over priced store there too..i would say 70-80% of people at gordens are familys with small kids so its more kid friendly than glamis and people watch out for kids in the road more than at most other places so there is no parential fear of the kids getting smacked by a drunk idiot not paying attention......from arizona take 8 west to the exit marked gordens well go right over the freeway then right again on the only road you will see (the store is to the left on that road) just past the dumpsters the road turns to dirt follow it over the canal bridge and find a place to call home for the rest of the trip...

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.i would say 70-80% of people at gordens are familys with small kids so its more kid friendly than glamis and people watch out for kids in the road more than at most other places so there is no parential fear of the kids getting smacked by a drunk idiot not paying attention......

Wow you guys make Glamis sound like a Hell-hole. Look ever since they closed down Comp and Olds at nights, its not even half as crazy as it was before. I've duned at glamis my whole life, and I've seen the drunkeness develop over time. But now they only places that are full of em, is the store, the dust bowl, Pad 2 and 3, and the flats. Those are they places that most the idiots park. We however park in the Road Runner area, thats a more family orented place.

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