Oregon’s natural sandbox
Sand has become Florence, Ore.’s greatest draw, said Hugo Martin in the Los Angeles Times. “Once rated the nation’s top retirement” community, the town situated along the state’s central coast is now a hub for sand-sport enthusiasts. Thanks to an unusual “geological phenomenon,” a 40-mile swath of shoreline stretching south from Florence is covered by the country’s “largest expanse of coastal dunes.” Each year, three nearby rivers dump sediment into the Pacific off a “sloping sandstone terrace.” Each year, “ocean currents and offshore winds toss the grains back” upon the shore. The result of all this sifting and shifting is the “softest and cleanest sand on the coast.” The massive, “honey-colored mounds” form one giant sandbox for “sandboarders,” whose recently conceived sport resembles snowboarding and skateboarding but requires no padding or helmet—just “climbing stamina and meaty leg muscles.” At Sand Master Park, the world’s first sandboarding park, tricksters slip their bare feet into a board’s “padded bindings,” then set off down the dunes.
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