Sand Dunes: riding a roller coaster with no rails

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stephen Razo
  • 944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  It can be quite an imposing site to the newcomer. As far as the eyes can see...sand. Lots of sand.

Over 40 miles long and six miles wide, the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area in Imperial County, Calif., is quad heaven for off-road recreator, Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Souza, 944th Maintenance Squadron aerospace ground equipment technician.

Better known as Glamis, the ISDRA draws more than 1.2 million visitors a year who zoom their ATVs, quads, dirt bikes, and sand rails across miles and miles of rolling sand dunes.

"Glamis is where I can really get extreme with my Yamaha Raptron 700 quad," Sergeant Souza said. "When you're flying across the sand with 686cc of fuel-injected power underneath you, that's extreme."

According to Sergeant Souza, it takes a lot of riding hours to effectively handle a high-powered quad that's capable of 55 miles per hour across the soft sand.

"The only way I can describe it to you is to imagine riding a roller coaster without rails," he said. "Flying across slip-faces, ridge tops and deep dune bowls requires perfect momentum and weight balance."

During weekend trips to Glamis with friends, ventures out into the sand can be as long as two to three hours at a time. The group will travel single file with the leader being responsible for keeping an eye out for dangerous drops and slip-faces that can have extreme drops of more than 100 feet.

The leader will use hand signals to warn the others when these type of dangers are straight ahead.

"I'm getting my wife interested in riding and eventually I envision us being out there as a family enjoying the sport," Sergeant Souza said.

When asked if he considered up-grading to the exotic sand rail, which can top out at 90 miles an hour, he said, "to me, that is technology that removes you from the sand. The suspension system on rails is so good, you don't feel all the bumps and jarring you do on a quad. I want to stay in the world of the extreme."