The Desert Of Maine

Afternoon folks
This is a natural event of which there are 4 in the world. It was formed about 11,000 years ago when a glacier "dumped" sand here. It was eventually covered by topsoil and lost. About a 100 years ago, due to clear cutting and lack of crop rotation the topsoil was depleted. Small patch's of sand appeared and eventually over 300 hundred acres of desert emerged. It was pretty much abandoned till the 1940's when a man bought it to make bricks with. The lack of silica made the bricks crumble. Plan 2 was to make glass..compounds in the sand left black spots in the glass. Finally he hit on making it a tourist and family vacation spot. It has been ever since. There is a tug of war going on with Mother Nature. She is slowly creating top soil and taking back her land..it's down to about 60 acres of desert now, but, due to some force more sand is pushing it's way to the surface and spreading but not as quickly. The pond of sand has been measured to be about a mile deep. This is mentioned in The Deserts of America, had been used by movie companies, for military maneuvers to simulate oversears fighting conditions and has been on Ripleys believe It Or Not as well as several documentaries over the years. Not sure what to expect I had a good time. Talked to a couple on their honeymoon from CA, 2 guys from Germany that were players on our team. The guide was Carol 70 years old and sharp as tack. It was down to 38 degrees and I did not bring gloves..that might be why some of the pics are blurry. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Dale









As you walk through the trees you see where they have been sand blasted from the mini sand storms they get. The temps reach up to 120 on a regular 90 degree day. We averge about 100 inches of snow a year here, roughly 8 feet. In the desert the drifts are sometimes 30 feet at a time. Fortunately the wind in Maine is predominately east to west so it blows away from the buildings here.