At Gordons Well there was a free area to park and I wanted to know if it is still there. It is located on the west side of the cement canal and goes all the way down to Glamis. It was wedged between the newer closure and the canal . I am going out this weekend and will ask the Rangers but if anyone already knows please help me out. :?:

Good lord, if a free area still exists do not tell anyone or they'll slap a fee on there too!

I seem to remember, back in the day... there was several areas which were not burdened with excessive fees. East side of the tracks... The Gravel Pits... South of Wash 20... ALL of Gordens... West side of the canal...
The idea being that those who wanted to pay for the priveledge of camping at Glamis could, and those who didn't want to or couldn't afford to still had a way to enjoy their PUBLIC lands, even if they had to ride a bit further to get to the dunes.

Then an amazing thing happened... It turns out that people don't really LIKE paying the fees so they tended to FILL these areas up!
A few people bitched about the fact that some people wern't paying "their fair share" even though we all pay our taxes just like the next guy, and lo and behold... No free areas left.

Personally, I thought the compromise was a good one. If you wanted to pay, you could, and if you didn't want to, you didn't have to. I'm just not real sure how many amenities are available down at wash #30...

Brian

The only spot I can think of is on top of Osborne lookout there's a sighn that says day use only.other then that they got us paying out the wazzoo >:<

Everything west of the canal was closed to camping about two years ago. This was due to a deal the BLM made several years back (before any groups like the ASA DUNERS or GD.com existed) to mitigate for the new bridge allowing access from Buttercup to Gordons.

QUOTE

At Gordons Well there was a free area to park and I wanted to know if it is still there. It is located on the west side of the cement canal and goes all the way down to Glamis. It was wedged between the newer closure and the canal . I am going out this weekend and will ask the Rangers but if anyone already knows please help me o ut. :?:

Free.......That's a good one!

:bounce:

The word Free and Dunes don't mix. Unless your bluedouchebitchsky and walk to the dunes. :shock:

jhitesma-Everything west of the canal was closed to camping about two years ago.

Not true, the area I am talking about was open last year and this will be my first trip this year and was just wondering if they had enclosed it into the pay area.

i think bpguy you might be talking about 5 mile drop. im not sure if that is the place your talkin about but it is "free" to a sense. meaning you dont get bothered by rangers and people. so yeah you can get away without paying cuz the rangers dont take time to go all the way out there. other than that gordons, glamis, and buttercup dont really have a free place to camp.

rich

Yamiboy's right I'm afraid.

The clearest answer that I know is that according to the BLM, those areas that were not covered by the fee demo program last year will be covered by the fee demo program this year, which means if you stayed there for free last year, you will need to pay for a pass to stay there this year.

Vicki

of course there is no free camping/parking areas now, if there was then the BLM would go broke and they would have to close down the ISDRA.

And you better bring an extra $90 with ya cause they might make you buy 2 passes if they don't like what you tow in with ya! >:<

Yamiboy--
I wans't refering that far down, we only went in about a mile or so. But my question was answered here. Thanks

sailaway, the five mile drop area west of the canal is private property, owned by the irrigation district (correct me if i'm wrong there) how can the blm enforce fees or anything else there?

If that is owned by the irrigation district, they would not be able to enforce fees... the BLM's power only extends to government land.

But I remember that question coming up at one of the meetings oh so long ago and the answer was that the irrigation district doesn't own all of it. Of course, they were not able to provide a map showing just what was BLM and what was not...

If it's clearly marked showing that it is not public property then they'd better not try to enforce the fee demo on those camping there. Not that they won't, just that they shouldn't and if I were certain that it was not public property so I camped there without paying a fee and received a ticket, I'd take it to court.

But the problem might be making sure that it's not public property before forcing your hand. Or maybe that would be a way for force their hand? I don't know for certain where BLM begins and ends there but someone must...

Vicki

We are still talking about the south dunes, right?

A similar situation arose a couple years ago in the north dunes and suddenly there was a gate across the access road.

Vicki

QUOTE

5 mile drop.  \"free\" to a sense. meaning you dont get bothered by rangers . so yeah you can get away without paying cuz the rangers dont take time to go all the way out there.

They might not bother you there but when you leave there going to want to see your pass. :x

Looking at a map of land ownership in the ISDRA area the only private land I see in that area is the land that PAD is on - which is considerably further west than the canal:

(Image is big so I'm just giving a link instead of inlining it)
http://yumaduners.com/albums/album06/rampmap03.jpg

But without a map showing more detail to overlay on that one it's hard to tell where that land is for sure.

The closure west of the canal was also used as mitigation for the FTHL (Flat Tailed Horned Lizard) so seraching for that may find info....I can't find the maps of that closure right now...just too many files to dig though and too little time

i hope my camp doesn't kick my a$$ for letting this out if i am right, but...

if you are rolling into gordons and turn north onto the canal road before going over the canal the area there (west of the canal) was closed to camping and vendors two years ago but if you keep going for a mile or two it was open last feb, no pass. and as you leave you miss the line leaving the flats where the rangers are checking passes sunday.

somebody told us it was private property but like i said i may be wrong.

Steveo-


That is the exact place I was talking about! I don't go down as far to camp though. We shoot down that way as we come back from our ride to Glamis.

Buy a season pass and help keep the dunes open. Peace

update on this area. the rangers did come by and check passes thanksgiving and said that everything west of the canal was supposed to be closed to camping now but that they had not had time to get signs up so they we letting people camp. sucks, some in our group have been camping there for decades and it is a safe, non-dusty spot.

It doesn't matter where you camp on the west side of the canal. They have a checkpoint set up on that side too where rangers stop everybody and make sure they bought a pass. If you don't buy a pass you will get a ticket and then have to buy one anyway.


Damn Cheapskates

I had no problem buying the pass, I just needed to know if I would be required to get one this time out. It WAS free but if not anymore then I can buy a pass no big deal.

So FORDBOY20- calling us cheapskates is a bit off the handle. I was just trying to get better informed. And I left and saw NO rangers checking as we left on our side.