Mustache Mosey 2018: Sledding Down Kelso Dunes!

  • Updated: January 14, 2018
  • Post By: Matthew Hengst

January 14th, 2018
3 miles, 500'

This was the second day of the 2018 Mustache Mosey and we'd decided to mix it up a bit similar to last year.  We still had a peak planned for the day but first we planned to visit Kelso Dunes and spend some time sledding down the sand!


We spent the night camped at our trailhead for Providence Benchmark and got moving early.  From where we rejoined Kelbaker Road it was just a short distance north to the junction with Kelso Dunes Road located next to a pumping station.


Kelso Dunes Road is dirt and slightly washboarded but easily passable with low clearance vehicles.  After 2.8 miles we pulled into a parking area on the north side complete with pit toilets, interpretive signs, and even trash service.


We arrived at 7:30 am and had the place almost to ourselves.  We were in a slight hurry since we had a peak to do after this and because we had intel that a Boy Scout group was in the area with plans to sled the same dune.

The road does continue past this parking area and we could see several groups car camping further down.  So if you're looking for a place to sleep there are plenty of options and from the look of things there's a lesser used dune access at the end of the road if you're looking for privacy.  But of course that puts you further from the highpoint and we had a peakbagger dot to aquire!



There was a well trodden trail through the sand leading up the biggest dune and countless footprints running off in every direction.  We followed the path of least resistance and followed prints up the right side and up the crest.




I assumed we'd be sledding down the southern face of the dune (and we did go down that side when we left) but due to wetter sand and a nicer slope we found the bowl on the northern end a much better experience.  (Not to mention the trudge back up top was far more reasonable)


We had a collection of sleds along including two plastic discs, one folding sled, and two boogie boards.  Someone had also brought cardboard to try but that ended up being too fragile and not slippery enough.



Jen had brought two of the classic disc sleds and these both accelerated nicely and were just hard enough to control to lead to entertaining spinouts.


Jack had a thin plastic sheet that took some getting used to but also worked quite well if you could keep it pointed forward.



Tao's boogie board had some plastic bits on the bottom which made it go a bit slow.


Catalina's board was a bit smoother on the bottom and made for a really controlled slide.


Well, most of the time anyway...




After we'd been there for a while another hiking -ish group showed up and sat on the top of the dune watching us and taking pictures.  And then a short time later we saw the predicted horde of Boy Scouts coming across the sand and decided it was time to leave.


The southeastern face of the dune was much drier but it did work after a fashion.  We just ended up with a whole hell of a lot of dry sand in every imaginable spot.


We were back to the cars by 10:30 am and ready to head for Cady!

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