There’ll be no birds in today’s post, I’m afraid. It takes me an hour to get to the island from my home and it’s not unusual for me to have clear skies when I leave much before dawn and then have it be mostly socked in when I arrive at the Farmington Bay/Antelope Island area – a phenomenon I refer to as the “Farmington Curse”. That’s exactly what happened yesterday morning so I generally had poor light and got correspondingly low quality photos, which I deleted.
The only saving grace of the morning was some karmic justice I observed on the island.
Much of the area on the island anywhere near the beaches is covered with oolitic sand, a type of sand found only in a few areas of the world. Most sands are tiny, angular particles of disintegrated rock but oolitic sand is formed by many concentric layers of calcium carbonate that precipitate around a tiny core of debris, usually brine shrimp fecal pellets in the Great Salt Lake. As a result, the shape of the individual grains of this sand is round or oval – thus the name (oolitic means “egg stone). See this link for a photograph and description from the Utah Geological Survey.
If the wind blows even a few inches of this sand across the road, because of the rounded shape of the grains it bogs you down immediately and is almost impossible to drive through. Off road, where the sand is thick, it is impossible to drive through. It’s also illegal, as the island roads are festooned with signs saying “Do Not Leave Pavement” and “Please Stay On Road”.
But some low-brow visitors to the island see such conditions as challenges – to do it anyway and to get away with it…
Yesterday morning as I rounded a curve in the road I came across this Volkswagen stuck in the sand near one of the restroom/bathhouses. It only made it a few feet off the road before it became hopelessly bogged down. Since this photo was taken just after dawn it must have happened the evening before. I suspect the driver may have hitched a ride off the island before they closed the gate for the night (or he/she spent an uncomfortable night somewhere on the island) and then arranged for some friends or a tow truck to pull him out sometime the next morning.
This Volkswagen has front wheel drive and you can see the efforts expended to try to extricate the vehicle at the right-front tire.
The left-front tire. You can also see (here and in the first photo) that this person(s) illegally ravaged native plants in a fruitless effort to gain some traction in this morass of microscopic marbles.
Now for some interesting speculation on my part. This photo was taken on June 7, 2012 – almost exactly a year earlier. Another car, stuck in almost exactly the same place (compare this image to the first one in this post). I can’t help but wonder if the driver of both cars could have been the same person. There’s many coincidences shared by the two events – same place, same time of day, very nearly the same date and both vehicles were Volkswagens. It’s a long shot, but it’s also possible…
Either way, it seems to me that what happened here is a form of well deserved justice.
Sorry for the tangent, I’ll get back to birds tomorrow.
Ron
PS – I paid another visit to the island early this morning and this mess is what I found after the car had been dragged out. As you can see from the drag marks in the sand the car had been high centered down to its frame and undercarriage.
If this clown had to pay for a tow truck I sure hope it wasn’t cheap…
I love poetry.
I love justice.
I love when the two of them combine for a cosmic lesson.
Evil vindictive creature that I am, I think I’ve gotten almost, no, just as much pleasure out of this series of sand trap shots as any of the birdies. My hope is that all working parts of the engine are full of sand! AND that the driver got sand in his/her pants, AND had a very long walk (I can dream that they didn’t have a cell phone, can’t I?)…
An oxygen thief getting his/her just deserts. Priceless. And why, why, why do these people think that rules (keep to the road) are for OTHER people, and not them.
As you say, I hope the tow-truck cost a motza.
Is that what the term “road kills” refers to?
Ron, Thanks for the geology lesson today, really, really interesting! And funny!
Also, I’m with Charlotte on the appreciation factor for the body of work you share, that’s a healthy trek that you drive!
Most amusing…says something about my sense of humor I suppose.
It looks to me to be very much like people driving endlessly in parking lots, trying to find the space closest to…whatever. They’ll waste ten minutes to save an addition 30 seconds of walking. This person or persons must have really felt the need to DRIVE as close to the rest room as possible. Sorry, but ‘hahaha.’
I share your sense of humor, Terry.
My bet as to why this person did this – some folks seem to think front wheel drive is like 4 wheel drive and it’s my suspicion that this person was testing his traction. Even 4 wheel drive couldn’t get through this stuff.
I had no idea that the island was so far from your home! Gives a new dimension of appreciation to your photos. This is also a great testament to both your observations and memory.
It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one that has disappointing photo days. It can be very frustrating.
Charlotte
Charlotte, My pickup is exactly two years old and yesterday I just turned over 30K miles on it – the vast majority of those miles are what I call “bird miles”. Ya think I’m addicted to bird photography?
So funny!
Glad you enjoyed it, Tana.
Re: Dick Harlow’s comment–Amen! (or should that be, “Ah! Man….!”). Too bad you couldn’t post pics of their plates. We used to live in Coral Gables and South Miami, Fla. The roads, many of the buildings,walls were made of oolitic limestone, which is so soft it can be worked with a hatchet, but as it’s exposed to air, becomes as hard as cement.
Patty, Actually I do have photos of the (temporary)plates. Maybe I should have used one here.
Surely, it cannot be the same person – can it? Very amusing.
Who knows, Christian. Some folks are exceptionally slow learners…
I love it when justice wins especially when it has to do with human arrogance thinking he/she can overcome the natural environment!!
Thanks for the lesson on oolitic sand!!
I agree Dick. This person had it coming…