Tire Pressures

Been having some fun on my 650. I am back in love with it even after riding the new Bergs. I dropped the tire pressures because I was sliding around too much on my woods roads in the slop and that seemed to work great.
However I went for a beach ride on Christmas day and things were great until I got into the pea gravel then crossed up over about 100 meters of baby heads to get back off the tidal flats and onto the beach. Getting a lot of wobble and plowing action in the pea gravel and feeling too much of the smacks when I hit the baby heads. Scared of denting a wheel. Had a few scary moments on that ride and the only thing that saved me when I hit the baby heads is getting on the gas hard and closing my eyes!
After that I went back into the woods and did some playing around on new ground and hopping over slippery dead falls. Only fell off once...but the bike kept going. I need to set this bike up right before I venture out again...suspension, tires, idle...advice?
I think I am running about 12 pounds in the tires. I had no probs before on the beach with higher pressures.

I got em already! Sure beats the hell out of those screws!

Well I just did 150 miles of logging roads, mixed gravel, sand, mud, ice and snow. Bike performed wonderfully and only a hint of headshake on the pavement, the pot holes and wash outs were hardly noticeable. I LOVE IT. (what other dirt bike out there can lift the front tire at 70 MPH???)
So I will just keep it this way and deal with the beach stuff later. It's only in those rare spots that are just so soft or loose that I have problems. There's no perfect fit for all kinds of riding and I don't want to start screwing around with it too much. I need to find a tire pressure guage that is accurate on the low pressures. I stopped off at NAPA and tried their digital guage and it told me 18 pounds on the front and 4.5 pounds rear. Didn't buy it. I know I am roughly 10 rear and 14 front as far as I remember.