Dunes, and the difficulty of climbing.

So, i thoroughly enjoy keeping myself busy and observing nature. I am, unfortunately, not one that like to sit still and wait something out or observe and stay quite. I much prefer rushing in, loudly and clumsily into the domain of my more discreet animal brethren in the hopes of seeing everything as fast as possible. The deserts of the west however, can slow down even the most tenacious and oblivious of observers, and ware them out so thoroughly that they are forced to observe it's beauty. At nearly every stop along our trip through the desert i had a primordial desire to run off to the nearest high thing and climb it, so filled was i with this fervor that i often left the group behind and missed out on valuable learning experiences. However, in achieving these heights i learned a few things: birds can't be spooked by you if you're above them because many of them don't look up, coyotes and ground squirrels appear to have communal (or at the very least, favored) 'bathroom' areas, a forest of cactus and a long drop can put the fear of God into any person, chollas are not good hand holds and their spines have sheathes, observing plant distribution is much easier from above, and, although not major, you can observe distinct differences between the flora and fauna on a mountain vs. on the plains. Many of these observations, and more, only became available to me after i was forced to slow down by the vigorous exhaustion of climbing. The most thorough of which came to me upon my first topping of the Kelso Dunes over 600 foot tall monstrous beast of a main dune. After the nearly 2 mile trudge through shifting sands followed by the monstrous near vertical climb up the side of the dune, with an extra pound or two of sand in my pockets and shoes, and my mind totally quiet i was able to see the land stretched out before me and how the vegetation fought to tame the dunes. How they wrestled with the wily sand! Succeeding at the edges to wrestle it into habitable stable ground, and failing in the center where they were slowly, agonizingly, smothered by the wind blown sand. I began to become aware of the wind that both moved dunes but also carried ravens up and down across the landscape. The sun which controlled the wind heating and pushing it in all directions, to and fro across the desert. This combination which would readily drain water from plants and burn their fleshy leaves was also necessary for their reproduction. These abiotic factors which both destroyed and aided life displayed so readily before my tired mind, though potentially obvious through text and lecture, would likely never have stuck so firmly in my mind had i not had the opportunity of these experiences.

Posted on March 24, 2018 12:08 AM by brandon130