Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Geo 365: Feb. 5, Day 36: Overlooking the Oregon Dunes

View to the south as we descend from the Yachats Basalt headlands between Florence and Yachats, Oregon. This is the northern end of the longest stretch of coastal dunes in the US, extending from this point to Coos Bay, which is about 45-50 miles in the distance. The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area covers the bulk of this extent, from the Siuslaw River, about 5-10 miles south of here at the town of Florence, to the Coos River at North Bend and Coos Bay. According to the Wikipedia article, Frank Herbert's classic science fiction Novel, Dune, was partly inspired by his research on this area. Certainly not the desert part, though.

Photo unmodified. March 8, 2012. FlashEarth Location.

2 comments:

Phil said...

This picture was taken at a turn out on Highway 101, wasn't it?
If it is where I am thinking it is, there would be a couple of small lakes just to the left of the picture.

Lockwood said...

Oops... responded to this comment on the other one. This is pretty much on the steep slope, I think the first pull-out, as you start to come down off the headlands toward Florence. There *might* be some little lakes, back under the trees, in that drainage to the right; if so, I don't know anything about them. And of course, off to the left of this spot is the largest "lake" on the planet.