I grew up in Santa Maria in the 60's so trips to Beach for Surf Fishing were a common thing. I saw many rigs lost in the surf. And many more that had the undercarridges rusted out because of the salt water. People don't realize you need to rinse it off real good. That salty sand gets into every nook and crany. In those days the dunes were wide open to anyone that wanted to drive through them. Used to get on the beach at Guadalupe, and run clear to Shell Beach to the north or to Point Sal to the south. You could access the beach from Oso Flaco. In those days you only saw the camping on the beach near Pismo. Clamming and Surf Fishing was the big draw back then. It wasn't over fishing that caused the clam problems, it was disease. The restrictions were placed on where you can go back then to help preserve the beach and dunes from over use. And now look at the traffic. Heavier than I remember it ever being in the 60's and early 70's.
I have spent hundreds of nights camping in the Oceano dunes. The trick, lower the tire pressure of every tire on your tow vehicle and on your camper to 20 PSI. You will be able to drive up away from the ocean and park just about anywhere you want without the fear of getting stuck. I bring a compressor and use my generator to air back up as soon as you get off of the beach.
Great info - thanks for sharing! We lowered our pressure to about 20lbs as well. There are some vendors there that have compressors and will fill tires for $1/tire if you don't have a compressor or your compressor is really slow! (hint: don't try to fill 4 truck tires up with a standard 12v model)
Can I ask you this ignorantly? Some tires should be inflated to 30 PSI, others to 45 PSI. So either way you go down to 20? And should you also deflate your tires a little if you go on dirt roads? I'm just talking about regular cars here.
Yes, on the sand you can get away with the lower psi (20) but dont drive on hard surface that way. In fact we reinflated down on the harder sand as soon as we could when leaving. My truck specifies 80psi for the tires and i brought those down to 20 as well as the trailers which i normally run at 70psi.
And yes you can deflate a bit on normal dirt roads as well. A lot of this will depend on your wheel/tire comfiguration i think. If you have low profile tires that may affect how much you want to deflate - im not sure.
@@bobanddangsjourney Oh wow. I went there once and was scared of getting stuck. Had to drive through water coming in at some places. I figure that cars must have been swept away there before. The waves were so close to the trailers in your video. I would have gotten a little scared. Btw, you have booked many campsites online before I assume. How do you get them? I try to book right at 7 am (official time) and never get anything. Do they activate those sites a few seconds before already? No matter when I click, I never get anth.
Thanks Joe! When we pulled in there was a row of campers in front of us so we thought we would be fine. But boy did that tide come in! We were okay but just barely. Last thing we want is saltwater on our wheels/hubs/bearings! Appreciate the comment :)
Great video what a beautiful place to camp.and so reasonably priced. Digging a trench looked nerve racking and seeing others get stuck was not appealing. The quads looked like so much we would get an ATV for sure. Thx for sharing this did u mean it was closing for the season or for good? Great video perfect narration and beautiful footage. New supporters and subscribers!
Thanks so much for the comment, we are really glad you enjoyed it. it looks like camping at Oceano is supposed to come to a permanent halt to comply with Coastal commision. We are not experts in this area but there are websites available with more information. One you can find is friends of Oceano dunes. The one thing about getting stuck: everyone seems more than willing to help out so it's just a temporary condition. If you do manage to visit, check the tide charts and camp further up the beach than you think you need to.
@@bobanddangsjourney thx for the info I even notice at RV parks or anywhere everyone loves to help each other and learn tips. Same for the various channels the community is so wonderful and supportive!
Glad you liked it! We love our tremor - its been great for us with one minor issue (on this trip actually - spark plug wire failure - i now carry spare). We have confidence to do some off road exploring when we go camping - but nothing too extreme as thats our tow vehicle too! The 7.3 is overkill for our little trailer but id rather have it that way. Thanks for the comment!
Indeed! The issue was the tide rose far more than I or others had expected. We knew it was going to be a high tide but its hard to understand how far up the shore that is going to come. When we parked we were over 100ft from the water, yet as you can see we ended up right at the shoreline during high tide. We didn't want to park too high up the beach and have someone else pull in between us and the beach... But based on our knowledge now we would have done it differently! Thanks for the comment
Blame the rich home owners of Nipomo for its closure , disease and otters for the clam decline as well as a general shift in social psychology. This is my home town...I should know.
use to go in the 70,s and 80,s never shaw big rv,s except for the stuck ones and no one camped that close to the water but back then you could camp every place but thats to the wacko environments pimso a a shadow of what ot use to be
Started going to the dunes in the 70’s as a child. It’s sad they just keep downsizing the place. Almost lost my foot there in a 3 wheeler accident, those things were super dangerous. 7 operations plates and screws just a little limp today. Thanks for the video.
Yes indeed! Nobody really realized how high the tide was going to get I think -it was a king tide event. We were parked behind everyone up on the beach, and by the time this was finished we were closest to the beach - everyone had moved.
Thanks for asking - there are several tidal tables online where you can put in the date and location in and it will tell you the tidal forecast. On such site is www.tide-forecast.com/locations/California-1/tides/latest. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the comment. This trip was during July. There is an effort going on to keep this open - with lots of legal proceedings - see prior comment for website.
I also grew up here, I’m 64 now and you used to be able to drive the entire beach until you come to a huge rock that blocked you from going any farther. It was called mussel rock. My family used to get a bunch of us and take a big army tent and stay for a week or more. As a child this was 1 of the best childhood memories I have. My dad had always a souped up truck and we would go back in the dunes where they had sand races. Plus COMPETITION HILL, and everyone would start and race to the top!! The refinery blocked off being able to go to mussel rock, that was the beginning of the end. Life is so short but what a great time life was then. 😢
@@bobanddangsjourney I think I'm a lot closer to the 49 state, I'm not much for that crazy heat, where I live we actually have 4 seasons believe it or not :) and I prefer the cooler ones, not to cold lol !
Hi, thanks for the question! At the time we made this the plan was to close this by 2024 i think. That plan may have changed though so hopefully they will still be open!
I don't think anyone did on this trip. There was a more recent storm - just a month or two ago, that really caught a lot of people off guard. Fortunately we were not camping at that time. Thanks much for thew view and the comment! One day we hope to get over to your country and explore as well!
$5.00 Day Pass. You missed the Horseback Rideing. There are rentals, & people trailering their own horses out for a ride @ the Ocean. Lots of people & family in cars & trucks picnicking & BBQ's for the Day, or even just the afternoon @ the Beach. (Close to the wet sand so you don't get stuck). Kite Surfers in the wind. So mutch to see, & for the senses to absorb.
@bobanddangsjourney9607 Some unload @ Oceano @ the wall, or the Grover Beach ramp where Finn's Resturant is (corner of Grand Ave. & Hwy 1) which has a large sand parking lot. Open until 10:00pm. You took beautiful film of yourselves, as well as our CA beaches. Thank you so much for sharing this ❤️
Great video guys! My fam and I have been wanting to get out and camp but the availability is limited. Hoping we can get out there and have a weekend like you all! #cheers also, nice truck.
I've never been there looks very fun and relaxing. Planning to go there in a few weeks. My question for you, Do I need reservations to camp there? Or just show up and find a space to camp? What are your recommendation for first timers? Do I need a pass to camp? Thank you so much for this video ☺️
When we went you had to have a reservation, but the reservations are not tied to a particular spot - they just get you access into the beach. Reserve california website is where you can get reservations - they do limit the number and it often does sell out in the summer. When driving on the soft sand you want to air down your tires probably to 20psi or so but dont forget to air back up before you get on pavement - there are some stations on the beach that charge $1 per tire. Hope you have a great time - we did! Thanks for watching :)
This has got to be the best informational videos I have seen yet! My family are heading there for fathersday, and I am really looking forward to it. What is the purpose of the boards on the sides of the campers wheels?
There can be a good amount of wind here, blowing on-shore - this can shift the sand around your tires, so thats what the boards try to accomplish. I think if yo8u are only camping for a few days it may not be a big deal. We were told this is a good idea and since we were staying a week we decided to implement that. Thanks for watching and glad you liked the video!
Indeed. Funny thing is when we got there we were quite a ways behind most of the others, but tide came up so high and everyone moved, then we then became one of the closest to the water. If I went back again I would definitely do it differently. Thanks for the comment!
Yeah, although we did not drive through the water I still rinsed all of the undercarriage of both truck and trailer with salt-off when we got home. Thanks for watching!
