Eastern Washington Expeditions
Moses Lake Sand Dunes Trip
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road
Report by Clay Graham.
Photos by Clay & Odo Graham / CegPics.com
On Friday September 23rd 2022 we headed to Moses Lake Sand Dunes. We got there around noon and set up camp for the weekend. Most of the group was there before dark. We had a good time around the propane campfire.
On Saturday morning we had two more people join us. With four rigs (2 YJs, 1 JLU, & 1 Jimmy) and two side by sides (1 Yamaha & 1 Arctic Cat) we hit the dune around 11 AM. Sev is new at wheeling his own rig and this was his first trip in the sand. He figured out how to work his new JLU 4xE Wrangler in the sand pretty fast.
We did a few laps around the track and then headed toward the south part of the sand dunes. At the South Pole we took a break. After the break we headed to the Yellow Zone (Potholes Reservoir and Mud Flats). The Yellow Zone area has a season closure form October 1st through July 1st. We always try to come the last weekend before the closure since the water is lower and the weather is not to hot.
We worked our way around the Potholes with some water crossing to get out to the open reservoir to play on the beach. We found a good spot to stop for lunch. Shelby (our Black Lab dog) and Doc played in the water.
After lunch we worked our way up the creek and drove the power lines back to the sand dunes. We stopped at Moses Lake for a break. Shelby played in the lake.
We stopped back at camp so people could use the restrooms. James park the Jimmy and rode in the side by sides. We headed back out hitting the dunes as we made our way back out to the Mud Flats. We ran the Mud Flat back out to the open reservoir and then worked our way back up to the sand dunes.
We had fun climbing the bigger dunes until the sun was in our eyes where we could not see the obstacles at the bottom of the climbs.
Back at camp we had a good time visiting around the propane fires.
Sunday morning it was nice sitting around camp. Around 11 AM we headed back out to the Yellow Zone for one last splash in the Mud Flats.
Doc ran out of gas as we were heading back to camp to pack up to go home. Lucky we had an extra 5 gallons in a can.
Back at camp we packed up and said our good byes. We stopped for Doc to get gas in his Dixie Jeep before getting on I-90.
We ran I-90 from Moses Lake to Vantage. We turned off I-90 and took the Vantage Highway west since the hill climb is not as steep as I-90 is for that many miles. Lucky I did because the new O’Reilly’s fuel pump in the front tank of the F350 went out as we were climbing up the Vantage Highway. The rear tank had enough gas to get us over and to the Ellensburg side. We ran out of gas in front of the Operating Engineers Regional Training Program. Lucky I had Doc fill the gas can back up so we could get to Kittitas to fill the rear tank up.
This was a great trip with a lot of fun thanks to all who came.
Please check out the rules before you go:
Grant County Sheriff’s Office Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Unit
Here are some photos of our Moses Lake Sand Dune Trip:
