Star Wars in Yuma

As with our previous trips to Death Valley and the Redwood forests, the final U.S. location we could visit was the Imperial Sand Dunes in Buttercup Valley near Yuma Arizona. I remember reading about Yuma in my Return of the Jedi books as a kid and when we discovered relatives had moved there recently, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to complete visits to all the Star Wars locations in North America.

This is a rather obscure filming location to find for several reasons. First of all, the scene of the Sarlacc Pit was purely in rolling dunes, there are no rock formations to line up as there had been in Death Valley. Secondly, since the Star Wars films had reached such fame, George Lucas intentionally hid this filming location as best he could so this would not be a simple matter of taking a couple of steps from the car park as previous locations had been for the two of us. Thirdly, not a lot of records have been found by fans as to where exactly in Buttercup Valley the Sarlacc Pit was filmed. The best information I had to go on was from this website which states: It ended up being very easy to find by taking the Grays Well rd. exit off I-8 and you right away come across a sign welcoming you to the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. From here though, I wasn’t too sure where to go. Another quote in The Making of ROTJ says "we were 2 miles off the road and the area had to be maintained daily" The webpage includes a picture of a "Welcome to Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area" sign. After following these instructions, we found that sign although in the intervening years, it has been relabelled as "Welcome to Midway Campground".

Before the Midway Campground sign, we had passed a ranger's station about half a mile back and saw a lot of sand dunes that were easily accessible from the pavement. (See them reflected in the windows below?) Turning back, I took a photo of the ranger's station as it further proved we were at our destination.

Deciding there was little point in marching two miles into sand dunes in a vain attempt to find the actual filming location (and let's be honest, it would look about the same as near the road) we drove about half way between this ranger's station and the Midway Campground sign, pulled off the pavement, and headed into the dunes. Our driver did warn us to be on the look out for dune buggies as people love to rent them and tear about the area at full speed. You will notice the occasional tire tracks in the pictures below but to clear them away would have taken far too much time and there would be nothing stopping some buggies from driving past us again anyhow.

I had to chuckle as I wandered up into the sand because a number of signs said "report suspicious activity" and without a doubt what we were about to be doing would easily qualify as suspicious. At one point, we even had a ranger drive slowly past us in a dune buggy while we took our photos, I wonder what the heck he thought we were doing.

After donning my tabard and obi and placing my "props" on the sand, I was feeling good and ready. Also, I was very glad we did this around 10:00 in the morning because when we wrapped up around noon, I was dying in that black outfit.

For any collectors reading this, I will say right now I didn't realize my desert skiff toy was missing several pieces before taking it on this trip. I did try to find replacement railings and left and right rudders before we left but apparently this toy is slightly on the rare side and to get the parts I was missing would have cost quite a bit of cash and I was not certain they would arrive in time. (Side note, I have located some parts now and will restore my skiff to its former state).

So, on with the pictures.

As stated earlier, I knew this was going to be a fairly boring location, nothing but sand, so I decided to take my action figures with me and recreate several of the scenes from the film.

Our heroes being taken through the Dune Sea.

Arriving at the Great Pit of Carkoon, resting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc.

The view from inside Jabba's Sail Barge (and unfortunately no toy was ever made of this larger set piece so it is missing from these pictures). Having said that, I simply had to have something represent the Sarlacc itself though. Like my handiwork?

Luke is about to be made to walk the plank (you will notice I am using the original 1983 version here, none of that Special Edition nonsense).

Artoo prepares to spring Luke's plan.

Han is not certain what's going on. I must say I was glad to finally be able to bring him and Chewbacca on one of these photo shoots.

Even Lando is standing by in disguise.

Artoo opens his panel to catapult Luke's lightsaber to him.

Now that our heroes have broken free from Jabba's men, Luke helps Han and Chewie.

But unfortunately Boba Fett arrives on the scene in a classic pose from many Return of the Jedi picture books.

Luke cuts Boba Fett's blaster in two with his lightsaber so Fett switches to another of his gadgets.

Luke is trapped! But don't worry, it won't be for long with that Jedi weapon.

At this point I wasn't going to let my action figures have all the fun. I joined in.

Fett is defeated but Luke sees more of Jabba's men arriving.

During the fight, Lando falls into the Sarlacc Pit but Han moves quickly to rescue his friend.

However, that Sarlacc is not going to give up its prey so easily.

Fortunately Han's sharpshooting skills saves the day and Lando can be hoisted to safety.

Artoo and Threepio make good their escape.

Artoo has to give Threepio a little push of encouragement.

But luckily the droids get aboard the departing skiff safe and sound.

And let me tell you, taking that picture of the droids was not my proudest moment.

Finally, our heroes are safe, Jabba is defeated and the Sarlacc Pit is nothing but a memory.

It ended up being a heck of a lot of fun doing this filming location, despite the lack of reference points and never really knowing if we had correctly found the right spot. My action figures enjoyed a moment of nostalgia, and I could send the last U.S. filming location off with a grande finale.

Plus, I got a chance to really embrace my inner Luke Skywalker, despite burning up in the Tatooine heat.

Congratluations. You made it to the bottom. For any video game fans, here's a little bonus from this Arizona trip. Click here: