We rode the Idaho/ St Anthony dunes for a week.

[Sledder]

We arrived at the RV park at 3 pm on the third of June. There were three of us and this was the first time I had been there, my two riding partners had been riding there for over 20 years.

One of the guys has a 180 HP X3 so of course I was having a hard time going where he did. After trying all the modes I found running it in low range (I had never used it) and manually shifting was the only way to go. I would mostly use gears 3-6 and I haven't looked but they seemed to be closer together so the engine would stay in it's happy place between gears. The Talon would hit the chip at around 53 MPH in sixth gear/low range which didn't happen too often. I was running GMZ Sand Strippers and they really worked well. I could usually out climb my other riding buddies YXZ. I would also go through a crap load of gas. In 40 miles I would use over 5 gallons of gas, I was usually at full throttle most of the time.

The Can Am X3 did have a mechanical problem, it blew the rear of the intake manifold off. We tie wrapped it back together and it ran in limp mode back to the RV park. We found a used one a mile away so we grabbed it and took the X3 to the Rexburg Can Am dealer so we could get it's software updated and get it out of limp mode. The next morning I installed some hose clamps around the used manifold so it would hold together while one of our friends who had flew down to ride shotgun with us took the broken manifold out. We both then installed the used manifold and the thing ran great for the rest of the week.

It was a great time and I rode over 400 miles on the sand.

 

[ODAMO]

Looks like you had the place all to yourselves. Sounds like a great outing.

 

[Hometeam]

We arrived at the RV park at 3 pm on the third of June. There were three of us and this was the first time I had been there, my two riding partners had been riding there for over 20 years.

One of the guys has a 180 HP X3 so of course I was having a hard time going where he did. After trying all the modes I found running it in low range (I had never used it) and manually shifting was the only way to go. I would mostly use gears 3-6 and I haven't looked but they seemed to be closer together so the engine would stay in it's happy place between gears. The Talon would hit the chip at around 53 MPH in sixth gear/low range which didn't happen too often. I was running GMZ Sand Strippers and they really worked well. I could usually out climb my other riding buddies YXZ. I would also go through a crap load of gas. In 40 miles I would use over 5 gallons of gas, I was usually at full throttle most of the time.

The Can Am X3 did have a mechanical problem, it blew the rear of the intake manifold off. We tie wrapped it back together and it ran in limp mode back to the RV park. We found a used one a mile away so we grabbed it and took the X3 to the Rexburg Can Am dealer so we could get it's software updated and get it out of limp mode. The next morning I installed some hose clamps around the used manifold so it would hold together while one of our friends who had flew down to ride shotgun with us took the broken manifold out. We both then installed the used manifold and the thing ran great for the rest of the week.

It was a great time and I rode over 400 miles on the sand.

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That looks like a lot of fun!! We have been thinking about checking it out. Was a week a good amount of time with the size of the place or was it the same over and over?
Your jump looks good too!!

 

[Sledder]

That looks like a lot of fun!! We have been thinking about checking it out. Was a week a good amount of time with the size of the place or was it the same over and over?
Your jump looks good too!!

We left home on Friday June 2nd and were going to leave the next Friday. Thursday we left (one day early) the RV park for home because it was raining hard and called for rain all day, we planed on installing our off road tires and ride to a couple tourist traps.

I didn't ever get tired of the riding, the adrenaline was high most of the time. Going through the transitions between down hill and up hill would slowly bottom out the Talon and some of the bowls we would go around and around trying to catch each other. We were doing almost 50 mph and it probably took 15 or 20 seconds to make one lap. I was really tired by the end of the day, would sleep really well all night.

Like I said it was nice going with the guys that new the dunes really well, they'd plan the ride and it usually lasted around 40 miles. Until the X3 intake manifold failure (Tuesday) we had ridden in the morning, after lunch and after dinner until the sun went down. It took us until 11 am Wednesday to get the X3 going so we only did two rides the last full day we were there.

The problem with the Talon is when doing a right turn around bowls the roof is in your way of seeing where you're going. Left turns you would look out the drivers side window.

There are lots of different terrains, small dunes medium dunes but there are not a lot of trails like in Florence Oregon. I wouldn't want to go more than once a year (mostly because of the drive) and it was also nice at the RV park, everyone was great. I never worried about anything being stolen. We're heading for Winchester Bay Oregon in September and it will be dry camping.

 

[Hometeam]

We left home on Friday June 2nd and were going to leave the next Friday. Thursday we left (one day early) the RV park for home because it was raining hard and called for rain all day, we planed on installing our off road tires and ride to a couple tourist traps.

I didn't ever get tired of the riding, the adrenaline was high most of the time. Going through the transitions between down hill and up hill would slowly bottom out the Talon and some of the bowls we would go around and around trying to catch each other. We were doing almost 50 mph and it probably took 15 or 20 seconds to make one lap. I was really tired by the end of the day, would sleep really well all night.

Like I said it was nice going with the guys that new the dunes really well, they'd plan the ride and it usually lasted around 40 miles. Until the X3 intake manifold failure (Tuesday) we had ridden in the morning, after lunch and after dinner until the sun went down. It took us until 11 am Wednesday to get the X3 going so we only did two rides the last full day we were there.

The problem with the Talon is when doing a right turn around bowls the roof is in your way of seeing where you're going. Left turns you would look out the drivers side window.

There are lots of different terrains, small dunes medium dunes but there are not a lot of trails like in Florence Oregon. I wouldn't want to go more than once a year (mostly because of the drive) and it was also nice at the RV park, everyone was great. I never worried about anything being stolen. We're heading for Winchester Bay Oregon in September and it will be dry camping.

Thanks. I think me and my boys would have a blast at the dunes. We will have to plan a trip to some soon.

 

[Sledder]

Thanks. I think me and my boys would have a blast at the dunes. We will have to plan a trip to some soon.

This is from my GPS over the first two full days.