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Jericho Sand Dunes - 1973
The first arrivals at the Sand Dunes southwest of Eureka, Utah, on Thursday,
April 19, for the Utah Nature Study Society's annual pre-Easter camp-out
were the five members of the Albert Anderson family of Bountiful, Utah, and
their guest, Deanna Thornton. Norman had the "stakes" in place by 7:00 p.m.
Thursday was a very cold, windy day, and Friday morning was much the same,
with some snow. The Munro and Ludwig families (guests) of Tooele arrived
about noon. After school on Friday, the rest of the Duncans came, and found
that the weather had moderated. Robert, Lee, and Ruth Cook arrived this
day also.
The Friday evening Campfire began with stories unfinished by the beginner,
and continued by others. Then followed some whistling contests: "the
loudest whistle without use of finger", longest whistle without smiling",
"best bird imitation", and "best animal imitation". The winners became
judges for the next contest. There was just enough Crackerjack for the
prizes to the winners. The runner-ups got suckers. It was fun! After the
campfire, the young-at-heart took a walk in the dunes until about 10:30 p.m.
to look for animals.
The Mantles and the Brays came on Saturday morning. The morning "Creep"
uncovered a few beetles, scorpions, crickets and termites. This is the
first time I recall finding the termites on dead sagebrush and in some cow
dung.
Venice Munro spotted a plain titmouse. The goldfinches were not numerous.
Other birds seen during the three days were a Mountain Bluebird, Pinyon Jay,
ravens, hawks, eagle, Song Sparrow, and White-Crowned Sparrow. Three owl
pellets were found beneath a large sagebrush.
Exploration in the area revealed the remains of "shelters" and remains of
occupancy by survival groups. The shelters were of various styles using
cedar (juniper) branches, sagebrush, sand and cedar bark. One cluster of
three shelters were built of some "imported" willows, over which cedar bark
had been tied. Each shelter had a fire pit at the opening. These were used
for shelter during the time the UNSS group was there.
"Civilization" has encroached on our secluded spot. There were motorcycles
all over, at all hours -- even in the middle of the night. Seven cows came
to the watering trough.
By Saturday noon most of the campers were ready to leave for home. There
were no new arrivals by 2:00 p.m., so the tents were struck and the Duncans
left to visit the Paul Bunyan Woodpile. The hike to the top through some
snowdrifts was enjoyable. Coming from the Woodpile, the Brays were seen
passing homeward.
Because of the late spring for the 20th of April, there was less sign of
life than at former campouts at earlier dates. Juniper buds had just begun
to swell, and there was no pollen flying. There was plenty of moisture in
the ground to make a good growth for the 1973 season. By the middle of May
the plants should be about mature, which would be at least 30 days late.
I am sure the weather discouraged many, but it was pleasureable in the
desert dunes
-- by Flora and Norman Duncan
My Trip to the Sand Dunes
On April 19-21, 1973, the Utah Nature Study Society went to the Little
Sahara Sand Dunes for a pre-Easter outing. My family arrived near noon
on Friday. Camp was set up, lunch eaten, and then we played baseball.
Later the group went to the Big Dunes, then returned to camp to play more
baseball. The Duncans arrived later, dinner was prepared, and after that
there was a campfire program followed by a hunt for kangaroo rats.
The next morning after breakfast, I went on a Nature Creep with my Aunt
Flora Duncan, who helped me work on my Boy Scout Merit Badge in Nature.
We started with the surrounding plants. She pointed out the leaves and
their arrangement in different kinds of plants. She showed me how to tell
the sagebrush from rabbitbrush, and how to identify the Utah Juniper.
Then we found some Russian Thistle, and saw that the young plants do not
have the prickly stems as in the old plants.
Some Argentium moss and puffballs were found. I squeezed out some
spores from the puffballs. Then we saw Broom Snakeweed, which was interesting.
Prickly Pear cactus was noticed, a mustard plant, and rice grass.
On the way back to camp we were going to do insects and other animals, but
first noticed the lichens on wood and rocks. Lichens are a fungus and alga
living together, each dependent on the other. Some lichens are eaten by
reindeer and cattle.
The life found underground were the ants (which we watched for awhile), a
trapdoor spider, a male cricket, and tracks of a
kangaroo rat. There were rabbits everywhere. I tried to track one down,
but it just went in one big circle. There also were lizards, a coyote (we
followed its tracks and saw that it was chasing a rabbit). Then we saw a
Hoot Owl (Great Horned Owl), goldfinches, a sparrow hawk, a song sparrow,
and other birds. Some scorpions were collected, which we are going to put
into plastic and make bolo ties. When we got back to camp, Aunt Flora and I
went into the camper and talked about all these things. The temperature
this morning was 37 degrees, and the elevation here is 5,000 feet.
After returning from this Creep, I went on another with the grownups. Then
it was lunch time. After this I took my mother out to see the survival
shelters we had seen in the morning. There were three kinds -- teepee,
dugout, and lean-to. My grandmother was on this outing. It was her first
trip to the Sand Dunes, and she enjoyed the Creeps and learning about
nature. Later in the afternoon, our family went home -- tired, sandy and
sun-burned.
Two years ago when I went out the the dunes with the Utah Nature Study
Society, there was a lot of trash which I helped to clean up. This year
there was another kind of pollution -- noise pollution. Some people go out
to enjoy nature, and some don't care about it. I think there should be a
place fenced off for people who like nature, with peace and quiet, and
another place for people who don't care and are tearing up the land with
their machines, and scaring the animals with the noise. They went through
our camp site with their motor bikes all day long, showing off and stirring
up the dust, and even came through at 1:00 a.m.
-- by Raylin Ludwig - Flora Duncan's nephew
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