HE SAID IT

Pack it up folks

WORDS


by jove he's got it

One after the other even!

Dune of clay? Man, that is a powerful good resource! I certainly would want to live near such a place! Might not want to be there when it rains, though.

There is a reason the Dorer (people of the clay) refer to this land as the Doríat (the ground of clay). Pottery is a pretty reliable industry round these parts!

The rains come in the cold year as brief, extreme monsoons and this place becomes almost entirely unwalkable, it turns into a rolling expanse of quicksand asking to get you stuck in it

When I was in Hawai'i, I was hiking back along the dirt road on Ka'ena Point, when a rain squall came through. The road was covered in about 2 inches of fine, powdery dust. This got turned into an eighth of an inch of ultra-sticky mud that would get plastered on the bottom of my boots with each step. And each step collected more and more, until it grew heavy enough to fall off.

But because it was so sticky, that meant it hung on until you have about 3 inches of mud on it. And when it broke free, you dropped down and had to catch yourself, or fall, while your other foot was still elevated!

So I ended up goose-stepping like a soldier.

Picture it, if you will. It's ten PM at night, in the wilds of the North Shore of Oahu. There's no light, other than the ambient glare from Hale'iwa, and I'm about 2 miles from my truck.
And here I come down the muddy road, kicking my feet up high, doing a goose-step march in the dark. Each step flings a massive clod of mud off my feet, so I'm swing-clumping along, whoosh THUD whoosh THUD whoosh THUD

I'd made offerings to the 'Aumakua for protection when I first started my hike, but man, protection does not exclude having a laugh at my expense.

As for the quicksand aspect of the Dunes of Clay? Heh! Well, *I* would probably enjoy it, but I wouldn't wanna have to cross it.