Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah

Thursday, October 26th

We left Sand Hollow SP by 9:30 am after dumping and taking on fresh water. It's a two hour drive on Hwy 89A to Kanab and then up to the road into Coral Pink Sand Dunes SP. So pretty looking at the back side of Zion National Park on the way. We managed to snag the only campsite available for our length but only for the one night as they were full for the weekend. Driving through this small park was quite tight for the coach and car but Ray as usual, drove it beautifully and managed to miss every tree and rock to not scratch the coach.

This is one big Juniper!

Once we set up and ate some lunch, we took a short drive to view the dunes so Ray could plan where to go back at sunset for the best pictures. The dunes are a much lighter colour than Sand Hollow and much taller. Walking in the very fine, deep sand provided quite a work out so we did not do very much of that. Several people coming back from hiking on the dunes and they looked pretty tired and were huffing and puffing climbing up the last hill to the parking lot. They were much younger than us too. There are quite a few boondocking sites for OHV's along the road from Hwy 89 into the park for people to access the dunes. With not a lot of time available, we just took a campsite instead.

Kids sliding down the dunes after walking (what looked like) a mile to them.

Staging area across from the day use area. The campsite is among the treees.

Viewing platform for the dunes.

View of the Park entrance office from viewing platform.

Freya had a blast at this campsite as she loves playing in the sand and this particular campsite had a huge "yard" as it was a double site. We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine.

As we were only staying one night I utilized the Habachi and used charcoal to cook our hamburgers instead of dragging out our BBQ. Yummm.

While I was preparing dinner, Ray went out to take his sunset pictures.

Venture onto a shifting sea of red sand. Changed by winds, these mountains and hills of sand can move as much as 50 feet per year. With areas for off-highway vehicle enthusiasts and those with non-motorized pursuits, the dunes offer adventures for all. The geology of the sand dunes is an intriguing subject. The sand comes from Navajo sandstone from the geologic period call Middle Jurassic. The same iron oxides and minerals that give us spectacular red rock country are responsible for this landscape of coral pink sand.

Sand dunes are created by three factors: Sand, high winds, and a unique influence upon the wind. The notch between the Moquith and Moccasin mountains causes this unique influence. The wind is funneled through the notch, thereby increasing wind velocity to a point where it can carry sand grains from the eroding Navajo sandstone.

This phenomenon is known as the Venturi Affect. Once the wind passes through the notch and into the open valley, the wind velocity decreases, causing the sand to be deposited.These dunes are estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 years old.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes support a diverse population of insects, including the Coral Pink tiger beetle that is found only here. Melting snow sometimes creates small ponds in the dunes that support amphibians such as salamanders and toads.

You can definitely see the "coral/pink" colour with the setting sun.

See the blowing sand?

Another lovely day. The only "ding" for us at this campsite is that you cannot start your generator until 9 am in the morning. but you can run it until 10 pm at night. As we are early risers and usually out the door by 9 am to tour or move on this did not work very well for us. When we added our solar system and battery bank we no longer are able to charge our batteries via the engine on the coach while travelling so we either hope the solar charges it up enough while driving or we need to run the generator while driving. Not really a big deal but I usually top up the batteries with the generator between 7 and 8:30 am so we are good for the day.