I know a while back there was some disscusion about pismo being shut down sometime in 2008. Anybody know what is going on with that? thanks

 

Don't know what the current status is, but got to say that I am passing up Pismo this year for the first time. I was up that way this weekend....and didn't even take the quads.

The last several times I was there, it just wasn't worth the effort. I would go for great camping or for great riding, but now there is neither! The camping is to crowded, and the dunes have gotten worn down into nothing more than hills. Not what it was in the old days! The only way I will ever try it again, will be mid-week and in the off-season.

In the long run, this is probably what the folks who want to close it intended to do. If they can't close it outright, make it so miserable that nobody will want to go there.....

 

Ive got to agree with the mid week riding its pretty cool to go out into the dunes and not see any tracks after a windy night.

 

Don't know what the state has in mind but from where I sit the dunes that are open to vehicle recreation are in terrible shape and something should be done but I am just not sure what.

I grew up in the town of Oceano and had my first beach buggy in 1956 and was one of the charter members of the Dune Riders beach buggy club. In those days you could go anywhere you wanted from the Oceano ramp to Mussel Rock (Devils Slide) and we did. There were dunes with names like "The Face" "Table Top" "Competition Hill" De'Aromond Hill" "Guadelupe Hill" with many more and of course "Devils Slide". You could go out for a ride on any given day and never see a tire track and if you broke down it was a long walk back to the ramp or you might find someone driving the beach if you were lucky.

Like with many things we had no idea what we had started. In my eyes as a 16 year old the dunes went forever and repaired themselves overnight. Well it has turned out quite different and as I stated above I don't really know what should be done. It would take many years for the wind to rebuild that area and maybe it can't. If left to the state they will close it and that will be the end of the dune riding forever and next will be the closure of the beach itself using the disappearance of the Pismo clam as the main reason when everybody who was around back then knows it was the introduction of the Sea Otter to the California coast line that wiped out the clams but that's another issue for another discussion

 

Close the dunes on the weekends. Open Monday through friday.

Heh. Not sure if that would help AT ALL?!?! But it would cut down on alot of traffic. haha

I go midweek anyways.

 

I hope they don't close it. But only for my own petty personal wants. The idiots would then migrate to some other place and destroy it.

I think they are still bickering over the sale price and what not for about 1/2 the riding area which is leased from SLO County. They did try to "sneak" the sale through, but that didn't fly. It will be interesting to see what happens with that. The state has already said they won't use eminent domain to seize the property (wish they would!)

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