Coral Pink Sand Dunes ©2009 Jeff Blaylock

On a whim, I decided to drive down a lonely spur road to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in southern Utah on my way back from the Sawtooths. I had spent the previous night on the lofty shoulder of Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park and intended to spend the night at a hotel in Kanab. As the sun was getting low in the west, I saw the sign for the state park and, without a moment’s hesitation, turned off the main highway and headed down Yellowjacket Road.

It turned out to be one of the trip’s highlights, camping-wise anyway. A friendly ranger loaded firewood into my car after I paid for a permit and camping spot. He gave me a spot on the outer loop away from the RVs and OHVs. The latter were annoying until it got dark, as the most popular recreational activity in the state park is driving over the dunes in all manner of contraptions, the likes of which I have not seen since The Wacky Races left Saturday morning television.

It had rained earlier in the day, so the pink sand was not so quick to get into everything. And the sand was indeed pink. It collects in a depression between the Moquith and Moccasin Mountains as the red cliffs of Navajo sandstone erode and wind and water deposit the grains from the west. The dunes have been here for around 15,000 years.

Pink Sand at Sunrise ©2009 Jeff Blaylock

I didn’t spend much time exploring the dunes — just a brief hike out onto the nearest one from an observation platform — as I was eager to get to the North rim of the Grand Canyon. The campground was very nice, thoughtfully laid out, and the sites were spaced out enough to afford some privacy. I had a nice fire and got to watch the stars wheel overhead before going to bed.

The state park no doubt gets lost among the grander parks of southern Utah, but it is a quiet, strikingly scenic destination in its own right. Well, it’s quiet except for the OHVs.

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