Friday afternoon, so it must be time to load up
the trailer and the RV and head for somewhere hot and dusty!
Destination - Coral Pink Dunes State Park, southwest of Kanab,
Utah. It's easy to find, but we suggest you don't try the "short
cut" heading north from Colorado City, AZ. It's a long 13 miles of
dusty, gravel, washboard road. Stick on Hwy through Kanab, then
just watch for the signs. It's 34 miles longer, but about an hour
faster and a lot easier on your suspension.
Breakfast of Champions -
cholesterol and animal fat! Energy for a full day of
ridin
g, you just can't get from
granola
.
You gotta love it when they
wheelie over backwards in front of the camera.... Can you say
"D'oh!?"
Coral PInk is not a large riding area, which may
be a lot of the attraction. There just isn't enough camping areas
to allow for the drunken party that Glamis has become. Thank God!
But on the recent Memorial Holiday Weekend, it was "get to know
your neighbor" time as Glamis often is, with more than 100 RV's,
campers and tents packed into one relatively small open camping
area. It's a non-improved camping area, which means zero
facilities, but BLM did haul in a couple porta-potties for the big
weekend, which were greatly appreciated. If you were lucky enough
to score one of the 22 sites in the main State Park campground, you
had fairly level paved parking, toilets, showers, and even a few
supplies available at the store - ice, pop, and t-shirts!
There weren't a lot
of rails at Coral Pink, and those that were there seemed to be more
of the "sane" variety (paint job not withstanding).
Helmet laws for
minors and having safety flags are strictly enforced - though not
OUR favorite practice, riding double seemed to be perfectly
fine.
Friday morning of the long weekend found the State
deciding the fire danger had reached the "extreme" level, so any
fire was forbidden. Even if you'd planned ahead as you should, and
brought your own firewood (no gathering wood permitted) and an
enclosed container (pan fires only, no open campfires), you were
S.O.L. Even bbq's with briquets were out! If you didn't have gas,
you were eating your weenies cold. And don't think they won't
enforce it - the two things the BLM and State Park Rangers seemed
to be most watching for were the flicker of anything resembling
warmth, and small bodies riding without a helmet on. They had radar
for that! Keeping those kids safe on the way to the bathroom. Maybe
it was because BLM Officer Jeff Long has helped scrape up two kids
that were seriously injured in camp, caused by others reckless
riding, not their own - he was a stickler on the helmet law.
With trails and
dunes, there is no end to the fun you whip up if you
try.
The Suzuki Z400
seemed perfectly at home on the fine sand and steep
dunes.
Since it was our first adventure to Coral Pink, we
spent Saturday exploring (rather, fighting over who got to ride the
new Suzuki Z400 we brought for a test ride - you'll see from the
photo album who won! I think it was because his riding gear matched
the best.) Saturday afternoon, the ladies grabbed an assortment of
rides (two Raptors, one 300EX, one 125, a Polaris 400, and the
Z400) and headed out across the dunes to the trail known as the
"Sand Highway." It's deep in the bottom of a small canyon along the
edge of the dunes, narrow and windy. It's posted as One Way for
safety, and with a steady stream of traffic, I don't think anyone
would have gotten far going the wrong direction anyway. What a
blast that was! Plenty of whoops and swoops through the narrow
sections, then out across the plateau through the brush, a long
ride on a straight stretch of whooped out road, and you were at the
access to the main campground. Out the One Way to the dunes access,
and you're back on the main riding area. The entire round trip took
about 2 1/2 hours, and we were beat.
The area has trails
that the whole family can manage, with a few climbs thrown in for
fun.
Overlooking the
Zion and Bryce canyon area, the Moquith Mountain area is full of
amazing scenery.
A begging-for-fire session with Officer Long
didn't get us any lee-way on the fire Saturday night (temperatures
were headed back into the low 40's again), but it did get me some
good information on other riding areas. Directly north of the State
Park is BLM land that is open to OHV vehicles, though restricted to
designated routes. Sunday we headed that way, and easily found
great trail riding - a perfect test ground for the 2003 Kawasaki
Prairie and Bombardier 650 Quest. It was mostly sand-based
trails, occasionally hard and rocky enough that you do NOT want to
sacrafice your paddles (and your butt). Most trails are easy, but
the farther you venture, the greater the views you'll be rewarded
with. Keep looking ahead and be aware of your riding capabilities -
there are some trails that will drop you into very steep rocky
sections. We explored these trails and roads for about 6 hours on
Sunday, and another 2 hours on Monday. This will be the first
direction I head when we go back to Coral Pink! There are very few
places that offer dunes for the sand enthusiast and true trail
riding as well, accessible from the same campground. This is the
best of both, and kept the whole family happy.
One of the founders of Off-Road.com, Pattie pushed nearly every paper and filled nearly every administrative role in the early years of Off-Road.com. Now, with the official title of Powersports Editor, she roams the country full-time chasing writers of ATV, snowmobile and dirtbike news.
Articles by Pattie Waters
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