10-14-08 Tuesday (No Stone Left Unturned)

Today, we played in the sand. Well, I fell in it, does that count? I wasn't drunk. I was pushing a rock, looking for a scorpion. How else would it have happened?

OK, rewind. We had passed the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park entrance road several times this week. With today being our last full day, we trekked to see what it was about. It had it's own unique beauty compared to other attractions we had seen earlier this week. The dunes have a sense of calm. Here's what it's about:

The geology of the sand dunes is an intriguing subject. The sand comes from Navajo sandstone from the geologic period call Middle Jurassic. The same iron oxides and minerals that give us spectacular red rock country are responsible for this landscape of coral pink sand.

Sand dunes are created by three factors: Sand, high winds, and a unique influence upon the wind. The notch between the Moquith and Moccasin mountains causes this unique influence. The wind is funneled through the notch, thereby increasing wind velocity to a point where it can carry sand grains from the eroding Navajo sandstone.

This phenomenon is known as the Venturi Affect. Once the wind passes through the notch and into the open valley, the wind velocity decreases, causing the sand to be deposited. These dunes are estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 years old.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes support a diverse population of insects, including the Coral Pink tiger beetle that is found only here. Melting snow often creates small ponds on the dunes that support amphibians such as salamanders and toads.

That was taken from the Utah State Parks website, by the way.

After paying our entrance fee, we went into the visitor's center. There they had several terrariums set up. 2 with live thingies. One a tarantula and the other a snake. The 3rd was dead insects. These were all animals/reptiles/insects native to the area. The woman (Pam) running the visitor center came over and talked to us about these various natives creatures. She took the snake out of the tank and held it. Jim wouldn't touch it, I pet it. Pam wouldn't touch the spider though, without the use of a pen. I can't blame her.



I took pictures of the most disturbing insects (dead) in one tank. I explained to Pam that so often when we visit a park, we're told about the wildlife, but only seem to find the deer and buffalo. Pam said, flip over rocks for scorpions, and the other stuff is all over the place. We headed up a trail that led to a terrace to view the dunes. Beauty. We then walked through some of the dunes and at most we found ants and bees. I carried a stick, pushing things, poking at holes in the sand. I wonder how many animal eyes I poked out? Well, I sure didn't find anything. As we walked up a large dune to head back, I tried to kick over a rock but fell over into the sand. I had the camera (as usual) so Jim couldn't capture the clumsy moment in a digital snapshot. I will say, the sand is pretty and is as fine as sugar sand.

After deciding we had our fill of sand activities, we headed for the exit, but not without noticing a bee stuck in the Cherokee. I know you're expecting a MISadventure like me getting stung, having an allergic reaction, going to the hospital, BUT sorry, no such luck today. We pulled over at the visitor's center, and Febreezed the bee. Yes, I said Febreeze, always a handy thing to carry around in your vehicle. You never know when you may need a fresh smelling bee. Anyway, the now-fresh-smelling bee was still trying to get out. I see Pam walking out and mentioned we hadn't seen any of the critters except for a bee stuck in the Cherokee. She had very long tweezers in hand (looking for tarantula food) and grabbed the bee. We followed her into the visitor's center to witness the spider eat the bee. The bee fluttered, the spider stood motionless, the bee died, the spider stood motionless, the bee smelled nice but was dead, the spider remained motionless, we left, I'm sure the spider remained motioness, but was happy to have a fresh smelling tank.