Woo Hoo, the wind was blowing just right last week and Buttercup was amazing today!

My day started off kind of on a down note. I didn't have time to get my paddles on the Manx last night so I wasn't even planning on going out. Then I finally got though to a guy who had an add in the paper for a 2.3 Pinto motor for $175 that I wanted to jump on....and sure enough it was gone already

So feeling bummed I decided I had to go for the dunes after all....but everyone had already left and I had no one to help me swap drums so I could run my paddles...oh well. I'll just drive the Manx (Since as of saturday it's officially paid up and Mine! - the last payment cleared the bank saturday!)

Loaded up some warm clothes in case I got back after dark, tossed the camera and some drinks in the passenger seat and hit the highway. Got out there and found Matt and Shaggy in camp fixing a minor alternator problem on Matt's rail (spade connector had come loose preventing the battery from charging.)

Matt had his CO2 tank so I dropped the Manx down to 5psi on it's mud tires and we hit the sand. Wow! The dunes were great! Almost no razorbacks at Buttercup just lots of smooth rollers the Manx handled like a champ in 2nd gear with the street tires! Made it to the top of comp though the dunes and stopped to get some shots of Shaggy jumping his new bike.

BeachNDunes pulled up a little ways down from us and called over so we went down and chatted for awhile.

I didn't plan on really duning the Manx on street tires...but it was doing so well and the dunes were so nice we decided to head out to the big Buttercup bowl. Again the Manx just floated though the dunes and made it around the bowl in 2nd with no complaints! But Shaggy was missing.

We spotted him a few ridges away a bit south of the bowl. Matt got there first and it turned out he had managed to fly off a razorback that caught him by surprise and sent him over the handlebars. The handle bars were a little twisted but a 12mm socket fixed that right up...and Shaggy's head was no more dammaged than normal so after a bit of a rest we kept going.

Shaggy tried leading us to one of his favorite hills at Buttercup but things got soft...and when we stopped to get our bearings I was stuck on an uphill...sure enough when I went to get going I sank like a rock

Little digging and tugging fixed that though. Decided to go back to comp and regroup....Tried going up comp in the Manx...and while I didn't make it I did make it further up than the two Hummers I saw out there Friday night, and since my Manx probably costs less than their lights did I was happy with that

Hit camp to do a few adjustments on Matts rail and they decided to go back in search of Shaggys hill again. Just before they left two buggys went by and I could have sworn one was the Racecraft shop car....but it didn't have their AZ flag on the whip so I figured it was just a lookalike. I didn't want to risk the soft stuff so I went on my own adventure. Cruised down to Midway and the plank road to see if anyone I knew was out. Saw a few trailers with ASA stickers but no one around them.

Got back to Buttercup and decided to check out comp again....Parked at the base of the hill and....sure enough Jim and Gwyn pull up next to me...it was the Racecraft shop car, they were just testing a new flag. Turned out their friend had broken down and they were on a quest for a tow strap. I went over and chatted with their friend while they contined the quest for a strap.

Followed them back to their camp and chatted for a few minutes and decided to do some more duning. Played in the bowls at the east end of the first finger at Buttercup for a bit then decided to take the dunes to the top of comp again. But the hill was deserted So I played in first finger of dunes a bit more, stopping to take some shots of the Manx in the sand, and finally decided I should head home before I got dark out.

Grabbed Matt's CO2 tank off his trailer, took the Manx tires back up to 35 and was on my way. Quick stop at Ogilby to remove my whip (whoops!) and now to check out my photos

Gotta love being able to make two dune trips the same weekend - and not even having to mess with a trailer

(As usual click for a bigger image)


That's just a quick and dirty test stitch. Those are the dunes just east of the parking circle at Buttercup. If I spend some time with it I should be able to get those to stitch together pretty well. I shot another pano from the top of comp but haven't had time to stitch it yet.

Unfortunatly the shots I took of the Manx (and BeachNDunes) didn't come out as well as I had hoped. Going to have to do some photoshop magic on them before I post them. Most of the rest from today came out nice though: All (decent) Photos from today

It was nice. We must have just missed you guys today. We were out goofing off in Buttercup a little today. Untill I realized I was short an airfilter Hope the motor lasts the rest of the season.....

Very cool, im going out to buttercup the weekend after christmas, I've never been there, any spots to avoid

Sorry I missed you Jeff. I was watching for people I knew. I didn't get out there until probably close to 1 though so you were probably already gone I figured. It was noon when I left the house but the gas station took forever (partly because of the filler on the Manx, still gotta fix that, partly because of the morons in line!)

Shocker I can't think of any places at Buttercup to "avoid" other than the small closure just west of the camp area. The more east and south you go the softer the dunes seem to get...and the more razorbacks. I tend to stay west of the sandhighway that leads back to comp at Buttercup. The eastern edge there are a lot of nasty razorbacks normally - the quads and bikes have fun there but for a buggy it can be really nasty.

Two fun sections I like a lot are the northwest corner just above the big bowl in the first finger of dunes between the first valley and the parking area. There are a couple of really big bowls there that flow really nice into each other. And a few lips that are fun to catch some air on. Another fun spot is the eastern edge of that first finger - that's where I was playing today and it was smooth enough I could get around even with my street tires.

The whoops at the bottom of Comp are nasty

I can hit Patton's Valley in 3rd and go right up. Comp kicked my butt!

Yeah, but comp is always whooped out That's why I normally run it off to the west where it's steeper, there are fewer idiots, and no whoops. You don't have the crowd to show off for but I'm not out there to show off for anyone but myself so that dosn't bother me

Comp really is worse than normal this year though - normally it smooths out in the summer but even this summer it was all whooped out:

End of August


The wind must not have blown the way it normally does this year. That would explain comp not smoothing out and the lack of razors at buttercup.