The secret is out on Kanab, Utah
From the top of the tallest dune it looked like an impossibly long descent to the sandy flat below. I edged the rental sandboard out from the dune’s dusky pink lip and cautiously “snow plowed” down on my heel edge — worried about wiping out on hard quartz crystals.
The daunting geography of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park didn’t phase my teenage daughter, however. She pointed her board downhill and plunged down the seven-story-high dune as if she was on a ski hill back home.
My husband and son followed after her, gliding down the seated on a sand sled.
Boarding and sledding on the ever-changing sand dunes are just two activities at this state park, a 30-minute drive from Kanab in southern Utah. Visitors can also ride ATVs into the dunes, or hike trails that lead to Native American pictographs.
It was a promising start to our trip. Good thing, too — my husband and I endured plenty of eye rolls when we told our teens we were travelling to the American Southwest for spring break. Evidently, Utah just doesn’t have the Gen-Zed cachet enjoyed by Southern California, Mexico or Hawaii. But what it lacks in palm trees and beaches, it makes up for in red rocks, narrow slots and adrenaline-fuelled activities.
