Tumbling at the Dunes

One of the traditions of going to the dunes is jumping and tumbling down them. I was never personally so bold as to flip and somersault down them like these guys, but I did get some good rolling, jumping and 'otter sliding' in.

Oregon Dunes

I just got back from the Oregon dunes on a trip with the Anake program at Wilderness Awareness School. It was a great group of people in an always amazing place!

Track of the Week 10

Setting:

Sand dunes near Oregon Coast, October 2006

1. What species?

This is a raccoon. It's got 5 finger like toes (though they look less finger-like here than they often do.) It is moving in gaits common for a raccoon (and in the case of the 2x2 walk, rare for other creatures its size).

2. Which feet are the two at the left of the picture?

They are the left hind and right front. The inner toe on a raccoon hind foot is lower down then on the front foot. Also hind feet have a bigger heel pad when it all shows. It is hard to see in the left most tracks, but if you follow it out you can see in the later tracks and extrapolate backwards.

3. Describe the gaits.

It starts and ends in its standard 2x2 walk - checkout this cool video to see how a raccoon moves. The middle section of the trail is a couple of slow loping strides.

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