White Wash Sands Trail

Yesterday's weather was cooler and wetter. We rode a shorter distance on terrain that was a little more familiar to us, given our usual rides on the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. There are some red dunes to the north of us, and so we decided to take a ride about an hour north and give it a go.

As we were pulling out of our campsite, I looked across the park and saw this handsome fellow. He looks a little like the Grumpy Cat, doesn't he? What a great face! Well, of course, I must attempt to pet every cat I see, and so I started walking toward him.

He perked up when he saw me, and started walking out to meet me.

When we were about three feet apart, he whipped around to show me his better side, and with tail held high, he showed me his purrsonal rear-end star, then looked back over his shoulder as if to say, "Nice, eh? Take a look at that!" Then he fell over on his back for belly rubs.

And just like that, we were BFF's.

Give me enough time, and I'll talk the socks off the shyest of cats. 

So it made for a better day now that I had my kitty fix, and we headed north. The sky was looking pretty threatening when we reached the staging area, and there was rain in the forecast.

This was the view in the other direction.

We put on our rain gear, as insurance, as much as anything else. We were able to ride for about an hour before rain started to fall.

It was an interesting landscape of red sand dunes and entrada sandstone formations. A sign informed us that the sand is blown by wind from Duma Point to the west. The Dunes are formed when the sand drops to the ground, forming White Wash Sand Dunes (White Wash is the name of the small creek that wraps around the Dunes). 

The sign also mentioned these Fremont Cottonwood trees.

Here's what the sign had to say about them. Sorry for the poor quality of the image. There was a pretty bad reflection at the lower portion.

Another part of the sign pointed out that these trees are well above the wash, and gain their water supply from the rain that soaks down into the dunes creating a "perched water table" for them. You can see their location in relationship to the wash in the image below.

The wash was more like a dry river bed, and very wide in places...as much as 50 yards.

We wondered if the dunes were really made from sand or if they were just from red dust. In fact they are sand, just like beach sand.

We also saw fields of these desert sunflowers. These grow all over the west in certain places, and one can often see them growing alongside the road.

Of course, the quickest way to bring up the wind is to try to take a close up of a flower.

The rain started to fall around that time, and so we headed back to the camper for some lunch and a nap. When the rain stopped, we headed out again and rode down the wash for a while. Mike decided he needed to ride up this hill.

This led up to where the camper was parked, and there was no way I was climbing that, particularly since the last 15 feet or so were pretty much vertical. (Insert Rocky Theme here.) Mike was undaunted.

And he made it. I just made my way to the more sensible weenie slope to the right. 

At the top, I could ride across the parking lot and look out over the view he saw from his perch at the top of the hill.

Amazingly beautiful country.

Given that we were riding in a wash after heavy rains the night before, we were crossing over shallow rivulets of water from time to time. The ATV's got muddy yesterday.

Although I haven't checked the forecast, I believe the rain has passed at this point, and the temperatures are much cooler than when we arrived in Moab. As I'm writing this, we have no plans for the day. I'm sort of hoping my kitty friend will show up again. For now, it's breakfast and coffee.