While we were at the park, we got to make use of the 4-wheelers Jeff and I had towed. We followed a guide who took us all over the sand dunes, sometimes at crazy angles as we looped across their tops.
GMC had Jake Vedder on hand for fun on the sand dunes too. Jake was the 2016 Youth Olympics gold medalist for boarder-cross. Jake’s been skiing since he was 2 years old; he’s the youngest competitor on the US National Team by 6 years, and he is currently qualifying for the upcoming Winter Olympics. So what does Jake do when he’s not on a snowboard? Well on this particular day, he was showing a bunch of auto-writers how to sandboard.
Sandboarding lessons from Jake Vedder.
I’ve never skied or snowboarded, so needless to say I wasn’t very good. It was a great experience, though! I was still finding sand in my clothes hours later, though. The bonus here is that when I watch the Winter Olympics, I’ll (hopefully) have someone I’ve actually met to watch; I can’t wait!
Our last activity at Coral Pink Sand Dunes Park was to drive off-road through the sand trails. This seemed like a crazy idea because it looked like a perfect spot to get stuck! A GMC rep rode with Jeff and me, and he told us the best way to get the truck ready for cruising through the soft, deep sand — 4WD high on, and traction control off. I’m guessing that they had let some of the air out of the tires before we got in — because that just seems prudent.
Jeff and I were instructed to go as fast as we felt comfortable because we were less likely to sink if we did. Fair enough! So we went fast.
Some of the ruts in the sand were over a foot deep — Jeff and I took turns going up and down the sand strip, and I was impressed by how well the truck handled. We didn’t get stuck once!
The rest of our day was spent driving a dark slate metallic 2018 Sierra Denali 1500 4WD Crew Cab through Zion National Park. This was my first time to Zion, and I want to go back! Everything about the park was gorgeous and grand; the 1.1 mile long Mount Carmel Tunnel through the mountain with the regularly spaced rock “windows” showing the mountain on the other side of the canyon was breathtaking. But I digress.
