Coral Pink Sand Dunes Aug 2006
Yea, we are off for an awesome vacation. We leave Phoenix on Aug 5th on our way to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Utah. On our way we pass Lake Powell. I took a few photos of Glenn Canyon dam and Castle rock on Lake Powell. You can see that there is now land by Castle rock where we used to drive our boat up the lake. You now have to go through the narrows to get up the lake.
The Coral Pink sand dunes are gorgeous to say the least. The color of the sand is very coral, especially late in the afternoon and early in the morning. It is about a 7 hour drive from Phoenix. We stopped at the Stake Park and got the last 1 vehicle spot left. The park is very beautiful and well kept. It costs $15.00 per night and they even have clean hot showers. The ranger asked us if we had MC plates on our quads which we do. He said they recognize them so we didn't have to pay the $30.00 per vehicle to ride in the dunes. We did however forget to bring our flags which they require. They had flags for sale for $12.00 which I thought was a good buy. So I bought 2 and had to drill out the hole on our back racks so I could install them. The only bad thing was they were so tight I couldn't get them off for the rest of the trip. We got settled in our drive through spot and unloaded for a ride.
The park is very ATV friendly to say the least. They even have a viewing stadium set up so people can sit and watch the action on the dunes. Our heavy Polaris Sportsman 500 quads didn't do all that well in the sand, but we still had a blast. It had been raining earlier in the day so the sand moist. There were very few other riders out so we cruised all over the dunes by ourselves for about 1 & 1/2 hours. My wife wanted to go back to the camper so I went out to explore. I met up with a group of people that happened to be teachers from Phoenix. What a small world. I had a good time taking photos of them jumping before I went off to explore the outer edges of the dunes. There were several hills I tried but couldn't make it to the top, so I had to back down. The sand was so soft that my 4x4 would just burry itself in the sand. I tried using low but that was even worse. I found a couple of hills in the back where I could get a run downhill and make it up a very steep hill on the other side. That was fun. A couple of times I barley made it up the hill as I was throwing sand for all I was worth. I could see why you sand riders really like the dunes. If I had one of those sand quads I would have been off and running as there were hardly any riders on the dunes.
We woke up in the morning and were going to hit the dunes for an hour or so and take off on out next leg to Salt Lake City but we noticed there were no riders out. I read the notice I received from the ranger and they have quiet time until 9:00 Am, so we decided to load up and go to the N end of the park unload and ride to a trailhead for a hike to pictographs. The trailhead was about 3 miles from where we stopped. The hike was beautiful but tough with the elevation. It was about 1 & 1/2 miles round trip. You start on top of the mountain and descend a narrow steep trail. At times the had fencing to make sure you didn't go over the edge. Towards the pictographs we went through a narrow trail filled with trees. It almost seemed as though the trail stopped but it did not. As we approached the pictographs they had a fence put up so people would not destroy the history. It's a shame they have to do this but I agree some knuckleheads would destroy this historical site. The hike back to the top was a gut buster for me. My wife breezed through with no problem. Maybe I should hike more often?
On the way back to the truck there was a very neat hill into the dunes that we could not resist even though we were not wearing helmets. We thought we were taking a short ride to a trail head just for a hike. Actually this would have been a great spot to ride in the dunes as there was nobody back in this area. We did the hill a few times and packed up and headed to Salt Lake. What a great place to stop. Put this one on your list.
Read MoreThe Coral Pink sand dunes are gorgeous to say the least. The color of the sand is very coral, especially late in the afternoon and early in the morning. It is about a 7 hour drive from Phoenix. We stopped at the Stake Park and got the last 1 vehicle spot left. The park is very beautiful and well kept. It costs $15.00 per night and they even have clean hot showers. The ranger asked us if we had MC plates on our quads which we do. He said they recognize them so we didn't have to pay the $30.00 per vehicle to ride in the dunes. We did however forget to bring our flags which they require. They had flags for sale for $12.00 which I thought was a good buy. So I bought 2 and had to drill out the hole on our back racks so I could install them. The only bad thing was they were so tight I couldn't get them off for the rest of the trip. We got settled in our drive through spot and unloaded for a ride.
The park is very ATV friendly to say the least. They even have a viewing stadium set up so people can sit and watch the action on the dunes. Our heavy Polaris Sportsman 500 quads didn't do all that well in the sand, but we still had a blast. It had been raining earlier in the day so the sand moist. There were very few other riders out so we cruised all over the dunes by ourselves for about 1 & 1/2 hours. My wife wanted to go back to the camper so I went out to explore. I met up with a group of people that happened to be teachers from Phoenix. What a small world. I had a good time taking photos of them jumping before I went off to explore the outer edges of the dunes. There were several hills I tried but couldn't make it to the top, so I had to back down. The sand was so soft that my 4x4 would just burry itself in the sand. I tried using low but that was even worse. I found a couple of hills in the back where I could get a run downhill and make it up a very steep hill on the other side. That was fun. A couple of times I barley made it up the hill as I was throwing sand for all I was worth. I could see why you sand riders really like the dunes. If I had one of those sand quads I would have been off and running as there were hardly any riders on the dunes.
We woke up in the morning and were going to hit the dunes for an hour or so and take off on out next leg to Salt Lake City but we noticed there were no riders out. I read the notice I received from the ranger and they have quiet time until 9:00 Am, so we decided to load up and go to the N end of the park unload and ride to a trailhead for a hike to pictographs. The trailhead was about 3 miles from where we stopped. The hike was beautiful but tough with the elevation. It was about 1 & 1/2 miles round trip. You start on top of the mountain and descend a narrow steep trail. At times the had fencing to make sure you didn't go over the edge. Towards the pictographs we went through a narrow trail filled with trees. It almost seemed as though the trail stopped but it did not. As we approached the pictographs they had a fence put up so people would not destroy the history. It's a shame they have to do this but I agree some knuckleheads would destroy this historical site. The hike back to the top was a gut buster for me. My wife breezed through with no problem. Maybe I should hike more often?
On the way back to the truck there was a very neat hill into the dunes that we could not resist even though we were not wearing helmets. We thought we were taking a short ride to a trail head just for a hike. Actually this would have been a great spot to ride in the dunes as there was nobody back in this area. We did the hill a few times and packed up and headed to Salt Lake. What a great place to stop. Put this one on your list.
