With the walk-through on our new Brooklyn apartment cancelled yesterday, we opted for the next best thing...the Walking Dunes, one of Montauk's natural wonders.
In a move I can only attribute to cabin fever, we didn't check to see how long the trail, which begins at the end of Neapeague Harbor Road, was before starting out, nor did we, clad in sneakers, anticipate how much snow there would still be on it. Fortunately, as it turns out, the trail is only a mile long, so, somewhat short of frostbite, we completed a loop that began at the harbor, took us through woods, past piping plover sites and a phantom forest, and back to the beach.
You aren't actually allowed to walk on the Walking Dunes - they're too fragile, ecologically speaking - so the trail takes you through woods bordering the dunes and through what once was a forest but has been covered by the dunes in their inexorable stroll southeast. If you're wondering, as I was, why they are so called, it's the strong winter winds that cause the dunes to "walk" about 3 1/2' a year, rather inconsiderately burying everything in their path.
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| The dunes rise as high as 80' in spots. |
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| You have to take a lot on faith here. Dunes walk. There used to be a forest. |
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| Phantom Menace |
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