Went on a ride to the Florence sand dunes (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/siuslaw/recarea/?recid=42465) in Oregon this past weekend. I have never been off-roading on sand like this. Anyway, if you've never been to the desert, or on sand dunes -- I can't recommend it highly enough. It's an absolute blast. Apparently it is one of the largest "freshwater dunes" areas in the world (it's 30 miles long x 3 miles). Apparently Frank Herbert visited this area in 1950's and the story is that this is what inspired him to write Dune. I believe it after being there.
SAND DUNES CAN BE TRICKY: Lots of "picking your line" carefully around and up and over dunes, and lots of little "Pitfall" (the OG video game) esque holes, water lakes, and sharp dropoffs on the other side of the dunes. Which would be precarious .... I've watched the YouTube videos of trucks with front airbags deployed after nosediving down dunes Also, the sand is always shape shifting. Come back an hour later on a windy day, the lines are different. Very cool.

TIRES: Aired down to 13-15 PSI all around (20" stock rims with K02's in 33" size). Notably, traction was brilliant. I was expecting it to get bogged down as the sand was unstable and just walking in it, you sink a bit. But, much easier to start/stop than in snow. Guy I was with had experience in sand (weeks of Sahara desert type of experience...) and said even at 20psi you struggle to drive. So, I went low on air pressure wondering what would happen. Traction was brilliant but I did debead 2 tires -- one when my inner teenager took over and I started doing S curve drifts in the truck (great fun), and the other when I got a bit stuck and far too much wheelspin. So the headline is... if you air down this dangerously low, it's a compromise ... and if you spin tires, or act like a hooning idiot (me) you probably will debead. So the other biggest lesson learned is put your inner race car driver aside because drifting a Defender in sand means a high risk of debeading the aired down tires.

SETTINGS: Sand mode (which worked great), DSC off, manual mode on shifter and usually in gear 2 or 3, revs and lots of power help. I didn't get into setting custom traction modes as it was not needed. Sand mode is quite smart. I was often north of 3500-4000 RPM.

JACK: I used the stock LR jack. Worked fine on a traction board but ... no way I'll keep it as my primary jack. Need something better.

Interior of car is covered in sand. Literally. With a bit of wind it's sort of a sandstorm out there - This is a windows closed adventure. Took me awhile to figure that out. Also every time you open the door or window I would get a face full of sand.

Great fun though. This area is a national treasure -- I could not believe how stunning it was.

I found polarized glasses helped me navigate in bright sun... btw (like when boating)


I'm on left, my friend on right


Bloodhounds love sand dunes


Good lookin' Rover


Yeah so...


Bit of a ****eshow


In a bad way here for 90 mins... both immobile. I was stuck up to the frame and dug out underneath the entire car. Once we changed the silver Rover's tire, we used winch to drag me up hill a bit (which was easy after digging out). Fun to exercise our recovery skills.


Traction boards and shovels got a ton of use. Full size shovel better than small size shovel. I have the one from L8.. and used it all day.


Another debeaded tire on the rescue Rover. Changed in short order w the spare.


Stunning landscape
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Example of the lakes that reminded me of the game Pitfall. Often you find these right over the top of a dune, at low or higher elevations.

 

Brilliant shots. What an amazing place and a great looking day. Sorry I couldn't go.

Dag looks happy.