Oceano Dunes, Oceano CA

Category & Type :

Outdoors

Location :

340 James Way, Ste. 270 , Oceano CA

Phone :

05-773-7170-

Information about Oceano Dunes...

This 3,600 acre off road area is among the most popular and unique of California State Parks. The 5 ½ miles of beach open for vehicle use and the 1,500 acres of sand dunes available for off highway motor vehicle recreation are attractions for visitors from throughout the United States.

Oceano Dunes is the only California State Park where vehicles may be driven on the beach. Passenger cars can easily drive on the northern portion of the beach.

Four wheel drive vehicles are recommended for driving to the camping and off highway vehicle use areas in the park. Beach wheelchairs are available for loan at the Pier and Grand Avenue entrances to the beach.

The Oceano sand dune area is recognized by scientists, conservationists, government agencies, and the public as the finest, most extensive coastal dunes remaining in California. Most of the material that forms these dunes has been carried down to the ocean by various rivers and creeks, deposited here by ocean currents, and then shaped by the wind into the dunes that we see today.

The prevailing winds that blow in from the ocean push sand particles up into wave-like crests that run north-south. On the west or windward side the slope is gentle. On the east or leeward side the slope is quite steep. Sand grains, as they are blown over the dune crest tend to accumulate high on the leeward slope; then, periodically thin tongues of sand slide down. For this reason the leeward slope is called a "slipface."