Morning Gold

Over the years we have spent ample time around Zion, Bryce, St. George, Kanab and Page. On many occasions, we would see the sign and turnoff for Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park north of Kanab, but had never taken the time to visit this unique landscape.

Thus, September of 2017, armed with camera gear, we made a deliberate plan to visit and camp there. The plan to camp would allow time to photograph during both the evening and morning “golden hours.” The brighter midday sun has a way of washing out the colors and we also found that the “coral” color is most prominent before or after sunrise.
This little park, established in 1963, is host to a narrow strip of dunes estimated to have been here about 10,000 – 15,000 years. Winds funneled and blowing through the “notch” created by Moquith and Mocassin Mountains increase in speed enough to pick up sand grains derived from surrounding Navajo sandstone and then as those winds dissipate, the sand drops out to form these dunes. The park has a number of pull-through campsites and offers tours and rentals of sand boards or sleds for “surfing” the dunes. The dunes are also open to ATV riders. Far from any major cities, the night skies offer Milky Way photography with minimal light interference. This particular shot was taken early morning just as the rising sun was illumination this dune complex. The low angle rays turned the coral sands into a beautiful gold-copper color that was framed out nicely by the distant mesa in the background and the darker shadow foreground.