Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

The Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is small in southern Utah. It is very close to the border with Arizona. This small park does not fit the travel guides, so I came across it by chance.

I stayed in Kanab, and when driving toward the big parks Zion or Bryce, I always saw the park entrance signs. The cute name made me curious. One day I decided to get up early to explore it at dawn.

The park was open when I arrived, but not the pay booth. I had to pay the entrance fee of $ 8 in cash, put the money in an envelope, fill out the car information, and put the envelope in the mailbox. It sounds simple, but at 6:00 in the morning, I was not ready to do it. I finally managed to find the bills I needed and something to write down the information.
Many parks are now using this form of self-registration, and it is important to bring cash and small bills, otherwise, you will have to make a $ 20 donation every time you go into a park.

Once inside, I was really confused. The park is too small, and when I tried to find an internal road to go around the park, there was none. It only has a small parking area and a camping area. There was no one to ask for information and no internet signal.

I finally decided to go exploring by myself. I climbed up a small hill from the parking area, from where I could see the dunes. By then, the sky was clear, even though the sun was behind a large rock wall. It was really cold, quite a few degrees below the freezing point, and the wind blew strongly. I had to go back to the car to get the warming packs to use inside my gloves and an extra pair of mittens.

I took my cameras and went for a walk. I am giving all this information because it would have been very useful to know it in advance, and I would not have wasted so much time.
Now, let’s go back to the fun part. I had never been to a place like this before; I had only seen it in the movies. And the light was gorgeous! The color of the sand was red or orange and changed all the time, depending on the light and the wind.

Walking in the sand is not easy. Your feet sink, and you end up marching and taking very high steps just to be able to move forward. Being there, in such a beautiful place, with the perfect winter light, was very exciting.

I felt like I was inside an abstract painting, all the colors moving around me. I will try to show you the feeling in the videos after editing. I did enjoy my visit!