We spent some time a couple years ago in Mohave National Preserve but never went to the sand dunes. Several cool hikes and rides occupied our time and you can read about them here. This time, on our migration south we stopped overnight at the Kelso Sand Dunes.
The dune field covers 45 square miles and includes migrating dunes, vegetation-stabilized dunes, sand sheets, and sand ramps. The tallest dunes rise up to 650 feet above the surrounding terrain. We found a nice free campspot and set out on a hike up the dunes to catch sunset.
The Kelso Dunes are composed of five stacked sets of dunes, each set corresponding to a period of climate change over the last 25,000 years. During dry climate episodes, a decrease in stabilizing vegetation exposed surface sand to wind erosion, which ultimately brought the sand to the dunes. However, once the sand was in place, vegetation began to grow, locking much of it into place.
The Kelso Dunes are also notable for the phenomenon known as singing sand, or “booming dunes”. I read about this before hand and indeed, we made it happen. We climbed to the top of the dunes and slid down slowly right at the crest. A low-frequency rumble kind of like an airplane flying over could be both felt and heard. It’s basically a sand avalanche. This effect has also been noted at the Eureka Dunes in California, Sand Mountain in Nevada, and the Booming Dunes in the Namib Desert of Africa. The booming is much more pronounced when the dunes are extremely dry like when we were there.
As the sun set, the temps dropped and the quiet vastness of the dunes and surrounding Mojave Desert darkened. This DARK sky territory and the stars came out to shine.
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