Have you ever dreamt of roaming around pink sand dunes at sunset?
Almost sounds unreal, doesn't it?
Well, looky here. I know of such a place.
A dreamscape and I'm about to take you there with me now.
Alright, let's quit the dreamy act here. I'm at Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Utah.
Just north of Kanab and this is my first visit here.
I'm really super stoked to check this out. I mean pink sand dunes, come on. At sunset?
Pfff. You know what I'm saying.
And look it's Labor Day 2021
and this is the only crowd here.
So this is about 3000 acres of sand dunes and recreational areas,
90% of which is set aside for like OHVs. Like dune buggies, four-wheelers, and stuff like that.
Unfortunately, I'm a pedestrian today so
for the rest of us...
we can go explore the sand dunes and walk out on a portion that's about 10% of the whole park.
And I think there's a really sizable sand dune out there that I saw.
I took a quick sneak peek and boy is it cool.
Hi.
So yeah it's kind of lame. I don't have a four-wheeler or anything cool like that but
one of these days I would love to get something like that because
I'm discovering more places like this.
I saw some people, like, tearing around the dunes earlier and it looked so much fun but
we're just gonna do the pedestrian version tonight.
It's almost hard to believe that beyond that observation point that we're heading up to
is a really weird pink sea of sand.
Like, seriously.
Although for those of you that have accessibility needs, I think you could definitely
make your way up to that observation point
but unfortunately for you, that's as far as you'll be able to go but the rest of us
are gonna wade out into the sea.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Coral Pink Sand Dunes.
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Yeah, you can see this is awesome.
It really is pink and the lower the sun goes down the more pink it seems to get.
I want to try to walk out that way to a sand dune.
I see some OHVs though hanging out near there so I think that's open to foot traffic
but you can see the park stretches way the heck up there.
It's a really long and narrow park it would appear to be.
Once again about three thousand acres I think is what I read.
Alright, I'm gonna get out there.
Have a quick drink of water, take a couple snapshots from up here and let's get out.
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Alright, we're heading down into Coral Pink Sand Dunes proper
and boy there's a nice pink glow out on these dunes.
So I'm wearing hiking boots that rarely let sand get in my shoes
but I didn't wear socks high enough. This sand is fine.
Some of the finest sand I've ever walked in and it's really hard not getting sand in your shoes so...
Get any notion of that not happening out of your head right now. [laughter]
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Oh, man. This is doing it right.
Usually, I'm impatient. I want to try to get all my filming done earlier but
a couple problems with that.
One, I bake in the sun too much so I'm trying to limit my time in the direct sun.
And number two. The lighting is just better.
You can actually see some sand boarders.
You can actually rent boards or buy your own
to simulate snowboarding down these dunes.
Hopefully, when we get closer, we can watch.
You know it's strange.
I probably had the lowest expectation of this place out of all the places that I visited on this trip
and right off the bat, I think this might be my favorite one of the bunch.
This is something you don't get to see every day.
Nor is the other stuff that I film either I guess but
there's something really magical about this place.
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One reason why I really wanted to come here is because this...
I looked up, like, what's a really great Utah sunset and this one ranked, like,
at the top of the list of many blogs that I've read and stuff so
so far it's not disappointing.
We got about 20 minutes or so I think before full sunset.
I'm not sure at what time it goes below the horizon for us here though in this valley.
So what gives the sand that pink hue, you might be wondering.
Well, I have an answer for you.
So the type of sandstone that this originates from is called Navajo sandstone.
Kind of a pink-red color.
And just kind of look up in the cliffs there
beyond to kind of see a lot of red cliffs.
So the sand has that reddish tinge.
So my friends out there with OHVs...
I'm thinking about buying a 4Runner
and I don't know if I'm gonna get anything big like a Polaris or anything like that but
maybe a four-wheeler of some sort.
Some kind of ATV.
I haven't looked up the stats. I could figure it out on my own but
I assume a 4Runner is capable of that job.
My idea around getting some kind of OHV is about... more about, like,
places like this but also there are some places that I want to go
that I would feel comfortable driving, like, a 4Runner to
but maybe other places where I want to avoid, like, Arizona pinstriping on my vehicle.
You can look that one up if you don't know what it is but
you know that's really my main interest in that
so I can get out to more remote locations that are less seen.
I reckon the easiest way that I see is to follow that ridgeline
up the side of that thing to the summit.
So I need to cross through here I think.
I wish I would have paid attention to that earlier.
Or you know what? I think i can get over here with ease
and I can get a closer look at those OHVs too now that I'm interested in that.
There's a sand boarder right there. She's going pretty slow.
We'll see if this other dude does it again.
These guys were fast.
Who would have thought this? Like, surfing in the desert.
So rad.
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Didn't take too long to get out here.
That's a long walk up there though, I'll tell you that.
Oh my god. I didn't catch it on film but I watched one of the
sand boarders and that goes fast.
That's not like doing White Sands on a plastic sled.
I actually brought my sled with me but I forgot to bring my wax
and as I learned um if you don't have wax for that thing it's, like, pointless.
Maybe I can talk to these dudes and learn.
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Wow, you go fast. Look at that.
Here comes a guy now. Look at that.
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Alright, I still have a goal to get up this thing.
Man.
This is one of the best afternoons of my last 10 years, I think.
I don't know why I love this.
I'm just disappointed that I didn't rent one of those boards.
I'm an idiot but next time I will.
You know, this is my third hike for today.
I did a short hike at Zion. Made a video for that.
I hiked at 10,000 feet of elevation. A couple miles.
That killed me.
Now I'm walking up sand and it's like one step forwards two steps back.
Holy moly.
No joke. I almost started skiing down this in my boots.
This stuff is very slick. Huh.
A much different feel than White Sands, New Mexico sand.
Let's enjoy the sunset. The final moments.
[Music]
Alright, what I would consider the pinnacle of
Coral Pink Sand Dunes today.
Not quite done yet but this
is why I love Utah so much.
[Music]
Alright, there you have it.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes in one of my favorite places in the world.
Utah.
It's a dreamscape.
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