We've Done the Dunes

This is the toughest post yet on this blog because it's impossible to depict the immensity of these sand dunes.....but I'm going to try!

The southern coast of Oregon hides a secret natural wonder that is about 40 miles long, running from Florence to Coos Bay. I'm speaking of sand dunes. In some areas, the dunes are up to 4 miles wide.

Here's one of the first ones we saw from the highway - the trees across this bay are quite tall. It's amazing how many trees and plants grow in sand! Some of these sand dunes are up to 500 feet above sea level – that’s the height of the Washington Monument!

The dunes were built by the action of wind and waves that come from Alaska, China, and Hawaii. In the winter, winds can reach up to 100 miles per hour here, whipping the sand particles up into hills and mounds like snow drifts. They are constantly changing.

The dot just below the tree line is an ATV. This photo shows more than 10 miles worth of dunes. Those aren't mountains in the distance -- they are dunes with trees growing on them.

We drove north of Coos Bay on Monday. We talked to two young guys in the parking lot who were just loading up their ATV's to leave. When we asked them where a good place to see the dunes was, they said we could just walk up the dune right by the parking lot and we'd be able to see lots of them.

That sounded and looked like no big deal but we struggled to make it to the top of the dune!! ( I read that evening that there’s quicksand out there!!!) The sand is soooo fine it almost feels like it's going to suck you in.Going down was the easy part. Ed's only about a quarter of the way down in this photo. It gets straighter down from where he is. I wish you could see the truck (it looks tiny) down in the parking lot to give a sense of scale.

Tuesday we went back to take a guided tour.










ATVs are all the rage here.
Our tour guide stopped several times to show lost riders the way back.
Someone's been having fun doing wheelies here!That teeny dot in the center near the top is another ATV.
ATV riders love showing off for people in tour "buses".
The tire tracks in the foreground go straight down into a huge hole just over that little crest.There is a law that everyone must have a tall safety flag.

However, every time we flew straight up the side of a dune, I felt we were going to run head-on into someone!

Our tour guide had fun "messing with" us. Yes, he went straight down and up this dune (left) and many others just as steep. We laughed in spite of ourselves!

Our one-hour tour lasted for over an hour and a half and we covered about 10 very bumpy miles down the way and another 10 coming back.

Ed didn't realize what a neat shot he got with this one!

(Those are shoulder straps - part of the seatbelts. I pulled them tighter and tighter throughout the tour!)