Park features uniquely pink-hued sand dunes located beside red sandstone cliffs

How to Get There

From Page, AZ (93mi) Take S Lake Powell Blvd to US-89. Continue on US-89 to Kane County. Continue on Hancock Rd. Drive to Coral Pink Sand Dunes Rd.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is a state park in southwestern Utah, located between Mount Carmel Junction and Kanab, south and west of U.S. Highway 89 in Kane County. The park features uniquely pink-hued sand dunes located beside red sandstone cliffs.

The dunes are formed from the erosion of pink-colored Navajo Sandstone surrounding the park. High winds passing through the notch between the Moquith and Moccasin Mountains pick up loose sand particles and then drop them onto the dunes as a result of the Venturi effect. The dunes are estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000 years old.

The park allows camping, hiking, off-road vehicle driving, and photography. There is a conservation area of 265 acres (1.07 km2), and the total grounds include 3,370 acres (13.6 km2). It was established as a Utah state park in 1963.

The Coral Pink Sand Dunes tiger beetle (Cicindela albissima) is endemic to the dunes, being found nowhere else in the world. The park also contains most of the remaining individuals of the rare plant known as Welsh's milkweed (Asclepias welshii), a federally listed threatened species.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0