Location Taken: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana
Time Taken: October 2006
Have you ever climbed a sand dune?
I know, for most people, it’s never been an option. Sand dunes only show up in a few areas, and we humans tend to prefer living in areas with firmer ground. Still, you can find sand dunes along a lot of beaches around the world, so there’s a chance you might have been to one.
The sand dunes on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan are impressively large.
The sand comes from rock ground up by the glaciers that carved the hole that became the lake, and by the waters that filled that hole. And Lake Michigan is right below the jet stream most of the years, with frontal storm systems going across it frequently. The winds from that just add to the normal coastal winds to push the sand onto the shore, piling it higher and higher as the years go by.
These sand dunes get to be hundreds of feet tall. Though part of it is just that there’s enough moisture in the area that plants grow on the dunes and lock down the sand enough that it doesn’t just fall back down into the lake. Still, there are many places where the sand dunes are steep enough and active enough that they have few plants on them, and are essentially just a pile of sand.
I heard tales that this National Lakeshore had a big storm one night, and when the employees at a visitor center came back to work the next morning, all they found was a giant pile of sand where the building had been.
Climbing these dunes, though, is a lot of fun. Tiring fun, but fun none the less. Each step you take, your feet sink into the sand and you slide downhill a little. The ground shifts below you. And the fastest way up by far is running up the hill, because the sand has less time to sink downwards before you move on. So if you go to one of these tall dunes that are set up for people to climb to the top of, try running up it. I’m sure you’ll see others doing the same.
