Can I drive on the beach in an AWD minivan?

[MAKAI]

Saw a big foot wanna be trying to get off the beach at high head. After a dozen tries, ripping the dune up and smelling some God awful metal burning. I ask him how low his air is ? He says 20 pounds and I'm not going any lower. I say you are gonna have a long nite, drive around him over the dune and leave him there.

[canalbeach]

Back a few years (ahem) ,I used to run Sandy Neck in Sandwich. It was great fun To watch the AWD's entering the beach from the dunes, right at the corner. They would bury themselves up to their rocker panels and would probably still be spinnin their tires if someone didn't tell them to stop. I ran a Plymouth Trailduster With a 365 hog that couldn't keep gas in the tank and I always aired down to 14 psi. I would say 50% of the AWDer's didn't air down but , I never did see an AWD that could run the beach properly. On the other hand , I also saw a brand new Explorer get toasted by not airring down. Very important, get the air down so you're skimming over the top, not plowing thru it.

[piemma]

When I ran the Back we would air down to between 8 and 12PSI. 8PSI if it hadn't rained in awhile and the sand was real "sugary". 12 if it had rained and firmed up the sand. Always ran in low range in a 4WD and never got stuck but I sure saw a lot of guys get stuck because they didn't air down. This was before the rangers put in the airdown parking lot and there were no air pumps at the ranger station. We always carried a portable air tank just to add a few pounds to each tire so we could run to Nelsons and air up.
Mike P is exactly right. If you are aired down properly you can get in the track, put the truck in 4WD low and walk beside the truck. It will just creep along.

There always was a washout near Peaked Hill Bar that you would have to cross to get to High Head or the Clay banks. Timing was everything. We would time the waves and the surge and scoot across just at the right time if the tide had dropped enough.

One night we are all parked at Peaked Hill waiting for the tide to drop and this kid comes down the beach towing a boat. We told him to wait as the tide was too high and the surge was going all the way to the base of the dunes. Stupid doesn't listen and off he goes. Sticks the truck and the boat trailer. The boat slides off the trailer and the last we saw of the boat it was it was headed down tide to LeCount. We left stupid right where he was and told the rangers later that night to go winch him out.