Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park was one of the standout surprise packages from our second road trip through southern Utah. We had absolutely no expectations but it turned out to be so much fun. There’s a few fun activities, but here’s our advice: hire a sandboard or sled, hike up the vibrant dunes, slide down and repeat. You’ll only need a few hours, but it’s well worth a quick stop.
In this guide we show you the top things to do at Coral Pink Sand Dunes near Kanab, based on our experiences.
Our Experience
We’d just spent 3 days hiking in Zion and we made a last minute decision to try Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park on our way to Kanab. We might not be back in southern Utah for a long time, so why not? And we ended up being so glad we made the effort. The dunes were perfect for a bit of unexpected sandy adventure!
We visited on a red-hot day in December and had to be careful because the whole place was totally exposed. Our top priority was to hire a board and sled from the visitor center and hit the sand. What we didn’t realize was how exhausting the dune climbs would be after each run, so we stayed for around 3 hours before heading into Kanab for dinner and a well earned beer. Read more about us.
READ: Places you can’t miss around Kanab Utah
What You Need To Know
Okay, let’s dive right in. Here are the most important things you should know before visiting:
- Coral Pink Sand Dunes day use fees are $15/vehicle
- You can pay online in advance or in person on the day
- Entry fees do not include sandboard or sled rentals
- They cost $25 per board (or you can use your own)
- The park is open during daylight hours 7 days a week
- It’s 41 miles from Springdale (Zion)
- Kanab is just 20 miles away
- Here’s the Google Maps location for parking
- The park has a total area of around 3,370 acres
- The dunes are between 10,000-15,000 years old
- The pink color is eroded Navajo sandstone from nearby cliffs
- You can hike, board and drive OTV’s on the dunes
- It cost $5 to fly a drone when we visited
We highly recommend keeping a close on local weather reports before and during your visit. The entire park is completely exposed with no shade at all and it sits at 6,000 feet above sea level, so you must take precautions. We visited in December and even then we were lathered up in sunscreen. It only took a few hours in the heat for us to be fully cooked!
1. Hiking
The Coral Pink Sand Dunes landscape is enormous and wide open, and you can hike anywhere you like. There are no designated trails to follow, so feel free to forge your own path through the sea of sand. We would definitely have ventured out further into the dunes if we visited early in the morning or later in the afternoon when the sun wasn’t as intense.
Note: If you’re visiting with older or less able family members, there’s a viewing deck with benches they can use to watch the young guns hiking up and down sand dunes.
2. Sandboarding
Sandboarding and sledding down the sand dunes is the most popular thing to do at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. You have complete freedom of the dunes and you can stay out for as long as you have energy. We think $25 is pretty steep to rent a sandboard, so maybe just get one board between your group and share the cost. Trust us, you’ll need the rest in between runs anyway!
Here’s a series of photos of Mark to show you how it usually goes …
It took us maybe 25 minutes to reach the peak of the tallest sand dune we could see from the visitor center. There were only a few others around so we had plenty of room to board and sled down the dunes. Our top tip is to remember that you need to wax the board before every run.
3. Off Roading
Want to do something even more adrenaline pumping? You can rent OHVs and ATV dune buggies to drive across the dunes. And at 6 miles long and 1 mile wide, there’s plenty of sand to explore. If you have your own off-roading vehicle, you are allowed to drive it across the dunes.
Safety rules for operating an OHV in the park:
- Dune riding is allowed from 7:00am-11:00pm
- Stay 100 feet from pedestrians on sand dunes
- Stay 10 feet from any vegetation in the park
- OHVs must be legally registered (if you have your own)
- You must display an orange whiptail flag
- Drivers must have a valid driver’s license
- Ages 18 years and under must wear helmets at all times
Marked trails you can follow:
- South Boundary Trail
- Sand Highway
- Indian Canyon Petroglyphs
- Elephant Butte Trail
- Sand Springs
- Barracks Trail
Booking through Coral Pink ATV tours, you can either pay quite a lot to self drive across the dunes, or you can pay way less to ride along as a passenger. We saw a few ATV’s picking up some good hang time over dune crests and it looked like a lot of fun.
4. Photography
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is an exceptionally photogenic landscape, so don’t forget your camera or smartphone. But like many of southern Utah’s most beautiful regions, the best time of day to be out with your camera is when the light is soft around dawn and dusk. Here are sunrise and sunset times for Kanab.
We’re travel photographers and we can tell you from experience it’s hard to take print-quality photos here during the day. The sun is too intense and everything is blown out.
One other thing to mention: Kanab is a dark sky environment and Coral Pink Sand Dunes is even darker, so this could be the perfect place to capture Milky Way photos at night if you’re interested.
5. Bigfoot
Yes, you read that right, Bigfoot. Somewhere hidden around Coral Pink Sand Dunes there’s a statue of Bigfoot, and the fun part is the rangers periodically move it.
We were far too intent on hitting the dunes with our sandboard that we didn’t realize the statue existed until we got back to the visitor center and by that time we’d spent our energy.
When (not if!) you find Bigfoot, you need to post a selfie to your social media channels with #CoralPinkSandDunes and #SandSquatch so you can get a discount on any t-shirt in the visitor center. Here’s more information on Bigfoot.
6. Visitor Center
The small park visitor center is where we hired our sandboard and sled, learned about Coral Pink tiger beetles that are only found in this state park, looked at bottled sand from around the world through a microscope and met a gopher snake named Houdini! Quite the eclectic collection, right?
It was actually pretty interesting stuff and we’re sure it would be fun for the younger kids if you’re traveling with your family. Finally, we have to mention that the staff working at the visitor center were incredibly friendly and helpful.
What Do You Need To Wear?
Okay, you’re going to get covered head to toe in sand when you visit Coral Pink Sand Dunes. It’s inevitable. So we highly recommend wearing old, comfortable and loose fitting clothes with flip flops or an old pair of running shoes. We went barefoot the whole time we were on the dunes but wore flip flops before and after.
The most important thing to consider is the sun. If it’s baking hot, you might want to wear light and breathable long layers to protect against strong UV rays. Sunglasses, hats and sunscreen are essential, no matter the time of year you visit. As we mentioned, it was December when we visited and we had to go heavy on the sunscreen (which was awful with all the sand).
Camping At Coral Pink Sand Dunes
There are 34 camp sites and 2 group sites for RV’s, tents or larger groups. Here’s the site to reserve a campground.
Camping under the stars in the warm and peaceful desert would be fantastic way to end a fun day on the dunes. It would also mean you could do sunset, astro and sunrise photography which would be really cool.
Camping fees:
- Old Campground (no hookups/sites 1-22): $25 per single site, $50 for double sites
- New Campground (water and electric/sites 23-34): $40 per site
- Group Campsite (old campground/group site 1): $150 per night for up to 5 camp units
- Group Campsite (new campground /group site 2): $175 per night for up to 5 camp units
Where To Stay Nearby
If you’re not camping and you need a place to stay, drive over to Kanab. We really like the small city because it has a chilled vibe with a couple of great places to eat and stay.
Our favorite restaurant was Peekaboo Canyon Wood Fired Pizza. We sat outside in a covered area and really enjoyed the atmosphere as we ate tasty pizzas and drank cold beers after a long day in the sun.
Here are the top rated hotels in Kanab:
- Parry Lodge
- Red Canyon Cabins
- La Quinta Kanab
- Comfort Suites Kanab
- Hampton Inn
- Canyons Boutique Hotel
READ: 12 excellent hotels in Kanab Utah
The Morgan Conclusion
What we liked: Sliding down the sand dunes was a lot of fun and there were very few people around so it really felt like we’d stumbled across a hidden gem. And the staff at the visitor center were awesome.
What we didn’t like: Our biggest pet peeve was how expensive the sandboard and sled rentals were. Zion only costs $35/vehicle for 7 days and they charge $25 to rent a wooden board. It should be no more than $10 in our opinion.
Is Coral Pink Sand Dunes worth it? Yes! We think Coral Pink Sand Dunes is definitely worth visiting if you have 2 or 3 hours spare as you drive between Zion and Kanab. You can hike, rent a sandboard, ATV across the dunes or spend the night so you can enjoy sunset, astro and sunrise photography.
More From Kanab
- Guide to hiking The Wave
- Visiting Belly of the Dragon
- How to hike Buckskin Gulch
- Hike Dinosaur Tracks Trail Kanab
- How to hike Toadstool Hoodoos
- Visiting Moqui Cave Museum
- Hike to Moqui Cave Sand Caverns
Want more Utah content? Head over to our Utah Travel Guides to explore the Mighty Five National Parks and beyond.
We hope our guide on Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park helps with planning your visit to southern Utah!
Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.
Happy Travels,
Mark and Kristen
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Mark and Kristen Morgan are travel, hiking and photography experts. Over the last 6 years traveling full time, they have explored more than 40 countries and 30 US states.
Where Are Those Morgans has been featured in USA Today, Gestalten, Get Your Guide, CityPASS and Condé Nast Traveler along with various other publications. Read more about us.