Desert Southwest Vacation (Day 5) Part III

Day 5 (Wednesday, June 20th). After we finished the Grand Canyon, we weren't done yet. We headed back on US highway 89 toward Kanab, Utah on our way to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park for a final stop. The park, which encompasses 3,730 acres, was established in 1963 with land acquired from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to serve as recreational access to the dunes.

The park's sand dunes are created because a notch between the Moquith and Moccasin mountains funnels the prevailing winds, increasing their velocity to a point where they can carry sand grains in what is called the Venturi Effect. Eroding Navajo Sandstone formations surrounding the park account for the unique color of these dunes.

On the drive to the CPSD, I and likely everyone else, was getting a little tired and I even suggested just skipping CPSD. But Jane said since we were near let's just go see. Lucky that we did, because this turned out to be one of our favorite stops of the whole trip. We were immediately swept away by the breathtaking coral-colored dunes surrounded by red sandstone cliffs dotted with juniper trees all set against picture-perfect azure blue skies. And the dune itself was big, maybe rising 3-4 stories.

As we hiked out to the dune the size of the dune was really very impressive. In the picture below if you click on it to open a bigger version you can make out tiny specks of people at the very top.

We hiked around on the dunes and then made our way to the very top of the large sand dune. Below is a picture of Jane and the kids as we were trekking up the spine of the main dune. All along the hike the dunes were covered with these beautiful yellow flowers (see picture below) that just added to the magic spell this park cast over us. As we were about to leave a number of dune buggies came roaring near the big dune (see picture below). Evidently, ATVing is a big activity in southern Utah and space is set-aside for their enjoyment. We were perched on top of the dune watching these guys zip around the smaller dune areas---it looked like a good way to get really dirty, but probably was also a lot of fun. Maybe we'll try this next time. Finally, after staying longer than I thought we would we did leave and headed back to Zion. The drive back to Zion (coming from the east) was labeled a scenic drive and from the Mt. Carmel junction into the park it was the most beautiful region I have ever driven through. Again, photographs can't capture the vistas we drove through, but I'll include a picture in the next post with a bird's eye view of the final switchbacks as the scenic road reaches the bottom of Zion Canyon. We finally got back to Springdale and had a fortifying but late (8 pm) dinner at the Driftwood Inn Lodge to prepare us for the next day's big challenge..........Angel's Landing.