Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

 

It was a little bit warmer yesterday and the wind had settled down so we decided to pack a lunch and take a ride. 

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Today’s route.  We rode north on 89 turned left on Hancock and then turned left on Sand Dunes Road  to ride into the park.    

Left on Hancock towards the park and if is just lovely.  No traffic and we could putt along at 30mph and enjoy the scenery.

The sand is pink here and the cattle are clustered at the water troughs.  That’s a water tanker parked beside them.  No fences here.

We rise in elevation and pine trees start to appear.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes park ahead somewhere.

Long lonely road….just the way we like it.

Turn left for the park.

The sand dunes are appearing on our left and we see cattle down below around a water hole.

We drove into the entrance of the park and there were buildings but no one around.  Put your $8 in an envelope and put it in the box and you are good to go.  There was a cheesy little map that didn’t tell us much and Eric was really grousing about the lack of information. 

We got out our lunch and ate at one of the picnic tables and then went to see what there was to look at. 

We walked up to the little viewing area and ahead were the sand dunes. 

Not sure if you can zoom in to read this.

Sand to the left….sand to the right and more sand.

Most of the sand is rolled here by the wind.  Sand that is too light blows away and sand that is too heavy won’t roll so all the sand here is of the same consistency.  Interesting.

Pink cliffs in the distance.

The signs explain how the dunes got here and how the plants and animals survive.

Guess what…..sand.

We rode through the campsite where there were RV’s of every description.  Riding the dunes is popular here so there are many quads.   We left the park and headed back the way we came except we kept going north on what was likely the old highway which joins up with Hwy 89. 

Another really quiet pretty stretch of highway.  Lots and lots of pink…sand.

All the sagebrush is green and flowering from the recent rains.

More beautiful rock.

The old highway and we are all alone.

Too bad the highway only goes 9 miles because we’d like to ride a highway like that for a few hundred miles.

We left the old highway and rode north to Mt Carmel Junction to get fuel before heading home.  A group of guys on bikes and one trike came in to fuel up while we were there.  The guy we spoke to said they were from Pennsylvania and they were heading back to Phoenix tomorrow.  Maybe the bikes were shipped out or maybe they were rented, I don’t know.  He did say that it was really “Beauuutyeefull”  here which got me laughing.  That is just how our son-in-law Jeff’s grandmother, Gram used to say beautiful.  Our daughter Krista is married and lives in Pittsburgh and she and Jeff say that is Pittsburgheese. 

We reversed our route back along the quiet roads to return to  Kanab. 

A good day.

When we returned home we both had a chat with the people in the 5th wheel next to us.  Paul and Lois are from northern Oregon and have lived a rural life much similar to ours.  We were all quite amazed at what we had in common.  Real nice people.

Crappy internet and can’t post my blogs with pictures.

 

Just a quick update.  Saturday was a good day and we did go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Sunday was our day for Zion National Park…a good day but way too busy for Eric.  A one of!  Yesterday the bad weather rolled in, wind, cloud, cold and nasty.  Eric took a walk, I took a walk and picked up groceries and that was about it.  Today it is sunny but cold.  Not sure if we’ll attempt a short bike ride or not.  Tomorrow we head up to Page, AZ for one night and then on to Cottonwood, AZ  for three nights.  Sunday we head to Phoenix.  We will meet up with our friends Frank & Sandi in their park and have a good catch up before we leave the rig and fly home on Tuesday Oct. 11th.  Sandi has just had a hip replacement and it’s great that she has recovered well and has been able to travel to Phoenix.  Frank & Sandi have family there and will visit  with them over the next month before heading into Mexico.  We have been friends with them since we first met them on our first trip into Mexico.  Really nice people. 

So….I will attempt to post when we get to our next destination.  Hopefully there will be better internet ahead. 

Zion National Park, beautiful but way too crowded for us!

 

The weather looked decent today even though there was a 30% chance of showers this afternoon so we decided to ride through Zion.   Bundled up, heated jackets on and we hit the road.

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Today’s route of about 155 miles.  We did not return through the Zion National Park….you’ll see why later!

Heading north on 89 and we soon start to descend towards Zion on a seemingly endless hill down.  We would never pull the RV up that hill, especially if it was hot.

Looks a bit stormy down there….hope we don’t get rained on.

We head west on Hwy 9 and I realize I only have $25 in my outside pocket.  It’s a problem if you don’t have money ready in a line up on a motorcycle and have to fish around in pockets. 

Zion up ahead.

Here the highway is a red brown cinder and this will continue right through the park.

Ouch!  I wonder how long the line up into the park really is.  Not fun moving slowly forward on a bike.  Luckily it isn’t very hot because Harley’s are not built for going slow in the heat.  Air cooled, not water cooled.

We make it through and lucky for me it was only $25 for a motorcycle.  At this point there are only a couple of vehicles behind us and we are supposed to be going 35mph and yet there is a guy in a pick-up right on our ass.  What do people come here for if they want to rage through, don’t they want to see the park?

The rock looks wind swept…kind of like a moon scape or maybe Mars scape since it’s red.

How do trees grow in that.

The first and shortest tunnel. 

Heading down toward the long tunnel and another huge long line up. 

The Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel
Construction of the 1.1 mile Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel began in the late 1920's and was completed in 1930. At the time that the tunnel was dedicated, on July 4, 1930, it was the longest tunnel of its type in the United States. The purpose of the building the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel (and the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway) was to create direct access to Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon from Zion National Park.  Large vehicles can not negotiate the curves in the tunnel without crossing the centre line so tour buses etc.  must be escorted through individually and pay a permit fee for this escort.  This of course slows traffic down even more as you wait to enter. 

Heading in.  There is no light in this tunnel so I have reached forward and removed Eric’s sun glasses so he can see where he is going.

There are some portals as you pass through and I managed to catch this one.

I tried to get a portal here but got surveyor’s notes instead.  Kind of cool!

We’re out.

Heading forward and there is a long line of traffic ahead. 

Immense rock cliffs that go straight up right beside you.

Every shot would make a post card.   Eric is seeing none of this as he keeps his eyes glued to the road with all the sharp curves and switch backs.

This is a reverse curve and they mean 20mph!

Just like the Rockies but red.

The highway continues to wind it’s self down the mountain like some big, huge, long snake.

No guard rails.  The road is way down below to the right.

I continue to snap pictures so Eric can see where he has been later!  I might also add that he has been swearing about the amount of traffic since we entered the park and that this will be a one of!

The viewing points were plugged up all the way through the park and I did see that 3.5 million people had been through the park last year.  We will not reverse our route but go down through Hurricane and take the route to Kanab that we did when we brought the 5th wheel.

Bye, Bye Zion….I’m glad I got to see it but I likely won’t be back!

It is really warm on the other side of the park and we stop for a rest and an ice cream at a SubWay.  We sit and relax in the sun. 

As you leave Zion there are the small towns of Springdale and Rockville that are crammed with things to buy.

Need any rocks?

Rockville, very pretty and green.

As we head down to La Verkin the landscape is still just as amazing, just not as close.

In LaVerkin we find a quiet little city park to eat our lunch.  It is really warm and there are no clouds around to rain on us.  Very pleasant.

We head back through Hurricane and continue back to Kanab.  It is warm but very windy and we ride along.  Much nicer that when we travelled this road last Wednesday.

A good day….and Eric enjoyed the pictures on the TV later in the day.