Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

Pink sand, sleds and a mountain notch

⏱ 2-4 hours👤 All ages$

The park has been a Utah state park since 1963, and its setting explains its shape: the prevailing wind is squeezed through the notch between the Moquith and Moccasin mountains, speeds up, then drops its load of sand on the far side as it slows. The color is the first surprise: the sand comes from the eroding Navajo sandstone — the same formation as Antelope Canyon — and iron oxides give it a coral-to-salmon hue that shifts with the light, deepest at sunrise and sunset. The second is the life on the dunes. The park is the only home of the Coral Pink tiger beetle, a small insect found nowhere else, and part of the field is protected for it; look for tracks of lizards, kangaroo rats and birds stitched across the morning sand before wind erases them. Snowmelt sometimes forms small ponds in the dune hollows, briefly supporting toads and salamanders in a seemingly impossible place.

How to spend the visit: walk out from the boardwalk near the visitor area to the first big ridge and keep going — the scale is larger than it looks, and the high crests give views to the Vermilion Cliffs. Sandboarding works best on steep, wind-packed faces; morning sand is cooler and firmer. OHV riders follow the Sand Highway and South Boundary Trail around the field; Utah requires helmets for riders under 18, youth operator certification, and the orange whip flag. Families who prefer not to drive can book a guided UTV tour for the thrill without the paperwork.

Practicals: from Page, take US 89 west through Kanab, then head north of town on US 89 and follow the signs west on Hancock Road to the park. Summer midday sand gets hot enough to burn bare feet, so go early or late. Bring sunglasses and wrap cameras against blowing sand. Pets are welcome on six-foot leashes. Pair the dunes with Best Friends Animal Sanctuary near Kanab or with Pipe Spring National Monument for a family-friendly day west of Page. If you are basing in Kanab at Parry Lodge or Best Western Red Hills, the dunes make an easy late-afternoon outing: drive out after the heat breaks, sled until sunset, and be back in town for dinner. Remember that Utah observes daylight saving time while Page does not, so concession and campground times are on Utah clocks.