IMPERIAL SAND DUNES RECREATION AREA, Calif. — There are no speed limits, no age limits and no roads across these sands.
Formed by ancient Colorado River delta sediments fanned out across the desert floor, the area is also known as Glamis, after the nearby town, or the Algodones Dunes. The 200 square miles of wind-sculpted ridges, bowls and flatlands undulate from the Chocolate Mountains south to the Mexican border.
They are among the most popular -- and most deadly -- places in the nation for riding off-road vehicles, particularly on holiday weekends in winter. Seven have died so far this riding season, which runs from October through April. It is the highest toll at this point in the season in the memory of coroner's officials here.
More than 30,000 people show up on an average three-day weekend, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the area and has been aggressively seeking to expand off-road access here. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, some 200,000 people arrived, more than the regular population of surrounding Imperial County. With the New Year's weekend approaching, local authorities fear more deaths.
Riding the dunes is universally described as rib-bruising, exhilarating and terrifying. On a busy weekend, a bewildering array of vehicles -- collectively called "toys" by riders -- crowds the sandy slopes: souped-up golf carts, dune buggies, four-wheeled "quads" and sand rails, which look like a cross between a go-kart and a Formula One racer.
"It's scary.... It's adrenaline-soak time," said Eric Tomlinson, 28, of San Diego, gunning his Banshee four-wheeler and swirling out of sight over the lip of a slope at Osborne's Overlook on a recent Friday.
"People die at Glamis," said Alan Wilson, 38, of Surprise, Ariz., who said he witnessed one of the five deaths that happened over Thanksgiving: A young man on a motorbike collided with a high-powered sand rail after he had turned his head to wave at a camping area.
"He wasn't watching where he was going," Wilson said. "It definitely put a damper on things."
Also killed was a 5-year-old boy: His father hit a steep "razorback" ridge in their truck and rolled four times, throwing the unbelted youngster headfirst around the cab. His parents were charged with felony child endangerment for driving him and two other children with no safety belts, said California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Gonzalez. Several law enforcement agencies police the dunes during big weekends, with the CHP handling violations of the motor vehicle code.
