There's a lot of sand in the rolling, juniper and pinyon pine-covered land around Kanab in the far south of Utah, colored variously orange, reddish or pink, all remnants of the Wingate and Kayenta sandstone that forms the Vermilion Cliffs to the southeast. US 89 passes through the town and follows the upper end of Kanab Creek, climbs to a plateau at 6,000 feet then crosses an area known as the Sand Hills which has many square miles of bushy dunes and grassy plains, bordered by the White Cliffs to the north - a long escarpment of Navajo sandstone running all the way to Zion National Park. A more concentrated accumulation of light red sand is found a few miles south of the road, where a long strip of large crescent-shaped dunes has formed in a depression beneath the Moquith Mountains, and part of this is protected as the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.
The Dunes The road to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes is quite a scenic drive that provides a handy short cut to the Arizona Strip district, and hence also a route west avoiding the fees necessary to pass through Zion National Park. Driving south from US 89, the great Navajo sandstone domes of the park are clearly visible, 15 miles away on the right, while a low mesa rises on the other side. The dunes appear on the left after 9 miles, just beyond a side road that leads back to US 89, and several parking places provide easy access to the sands which do look quite pink at sunrise or sunset but at other times seem more traditionally colored. They always present quite an impressive scene though, shapely dunes without any vegetation, spread out beneath tall, layered cliffs to the east. Like other sandy places in the Southwest such as Utah's Little Sahara Recreation Area and the Algodones Dunes in California, off road vehicles are allowed to roam freely, interrupting the tranquil atmosphere and spoiling the symmetry of the dunes with their tracks. So early morning is perhaps the best time to visit, as nightly breezes tend to smooth out the dune surfaces, and the ORVs are not permitted before 9 am.
The State Park The official state park entrance is a mile or so south of the start of the dunes. The fee for day use is $4, which also gives access to a visitor center and nature trail, though there seems to be no reason to pay if entering the dunes from one of the roadside parking areas. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park does have a small campground for an additional $12, or there are plenty of opportunities for free camping in the surrounding BLM land. Past the entrance, the main road continues south through pine woods; wide and still paved for a while, it becomes gravel and rather bumpy after the Arizona border, turns due east at the sleepy community of Cane Beds (an outpost of polygamism), then meets AZ 389 a few miles later.
Hotels: The nearest towns with hotels close to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park are Kanab and Mount Carmel Junction.
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Coral Pink Sand Dunes - Nearby Places
Zion National Park (30 miles) - huge cliffs and sheer, narrow canyons |
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