impending doom

On one trip to the Guadalupe Dunes, Sarah and I decided to try and make a loop hike. We initially went up through the dunes, west towards Pt. Sal. The plan was to then go down to the water (as Sarah is in the process of doing in the picture above) and hike back along the beach.

Big mistake.

We made it down just fine, thinking nothing of how steep the soft sand was on the way. Once we got there, we walked along the top of the cliffs for a while until they ended at a steep, sheer slope. Thinking we’d be able to find a way around the bottom of the cliff, we slid down said slope.

Another big mistake.

Either the tide was too high or the surf was too big, because the little cove we slid down into didn’t have many exit options. We ended up having to climb a rock and scramble up the steep, moving sand of the dune that ended abruptly at the top of the cliff. (Taking care not to think about the crashing surf below us.) To make any progress up the dune, we had to kick and punch our appendages in deep to keep from sliding. At least one of us was sure it was the end.

We made it, but not without four bootfulls of sand.


Old comments:

shemp @ 2010-01-22 07:54:42
In my unprofessional manner, I probably would have titled this picture "Impending Dune."

lynne @ 2010-01-22 09:17:13
Number of tears shed?

Andre @ 2010-01-22 09:21:28
In "The Prehistory of the Far Side," Gary Larson tells a story about one of his biggest regrets as a cartoonist. In this particular cartoon, several porcupines are standing around looking cool. If I remember correctly, most of them have piercings or sunglasses but the big gag is that some of them have fashioned their quills into mohawks. The cartoon is captioned "Punk Porcupines."

A friend of Larson's–after looking at the cartoon only briefly–pointed out that he should have called it "Punkupines."Dammit," recalled Larson, "He was right."

That's how I feel about "Impending Dune."

As for the number of tears… I don't exactly recall, but they were probably all mine!

impending doom