I figured I'd seen enough of Zion, so I shuttled down to the car and
headed out towards Bryce. But not too far off that drive was a park
that another hiker on the shuttle had recommended on Sunday. So I
decided to follow his recommendation and stop at Coral Pink Sand Dunes
State Park.
This was primarily an off-road vehicle park, but they also had a short nature trail through the edge of the dunes. I also saw a family just pulling some sleds(!) back to their cars and preparing for a picnic in the 100-degree heat.
The informative signs along the nature walk tells me that these
flowers are Rough Mulesears. A fruited yucca is just behind the
flowers. I'd swear that one of the fruits shocked me when I touched
it. I guess that's what happens when you shuffle through the sand in
the dry desert air.
The signs also told me that the sand was originally part a desert made up of quartz sand grains. After being buried and cemented into sandstone, iron leeched in, turning it a reddish color. That Navajo Sandstone then eroded, and some of it blew to this area, forming the pinkish dunes. (If they don't look pink to you, it's because either my camera's color calibration lost it, or your experience insists that what you're seeing is yellow/beige sand.)
I assume that this is a lizard track. I saw many lizards on this
trip, including some sizeable ones with pretty colors, but none of
them hung out long enough for a photo op.
It was hard work walking through the sand, and of course scorching hot in the afternoon. I was glad that the nature trail was fairly short.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes
Time: 0.5 hours
Distance: 0.5 miles
Ascent: ~30 feet
Water: 0.5 liters
