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Show byways and backwaters By Pat Whitfield Coral Pink Sand Dunes: close-in vacation with a rosy hue me aiaie division oi rancs in Salt Lake, there's no admit-' tance fee to the park and the nightly space fee of $2.00 is halved. "Fun tags" can be purchased at Division headquarters. head-quarters. 1596 North West Temple, phone 1-533-6012 or at the Utah Travel Council, Council Hall. Capital Hill in Salt Lake, phone 1 -533-568 1. Even with the fuel crunch, there's no reason why we Utahns can't enjoy spectacular spectacu-lar vacations nearly in our own back yards this year! ! With a fuel shortage threatening vacation travel this summer, the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation Recre-ation has committed itself to a full-on program of encouraging encour-aging Utahns to vacation at home. With a total of 20 water recreation areas. 10 historic and museum sites, and 1 1 scenic and nature destinations, Utah boasts a variety of attractions to suit all tastes. : With Easter vacation fast approaching, it might be a good time to get out and sample son.e of our natural treasures before the peak of the tourist season. And for mid-April, Coral : Pink Sand . Dunes State Reservoir could be a wise choice. Three hundred five" miles from Salt Lake Citv. the dunes area lies eleven miles off U.S Highway 89 near Kanab. Painted with the: same at dusk, they re particularly spectacular. More suited to the camping camp-ing group since there's a scarcity of motels within driving distance, the reserve has a twenty-space pull-through pull-through campground, each site secluded from the next by well-designated desert landscaping and a semicircular semi-circular paved drive. The access road is well paved as is the road through the camping area. Hot showers are never a problem in the ultra-modern restrooms which are complete with a large private dressing room outside the shower area.- For those seeking utterly soundless communion with nature, this might not be the place as it's popular with off-road vehicle afficionados. As a result, the : whine of motorcycles and dune buggies bug-gies often echoes far into the , palette of warm, -vibrant tones as nearby Zion Nation-. Nation-. al Park, Coral Pink Sand Dunes looks like a large chunk of the Sahara Desert plunked down squarely amid the towering sandstone cliffs that mark the region. Out of nowhere the dunes rise, ranging in shade from brilliant rust to flaming crimson depending on the sun's location. At dawn and crystal clear desert nights. In all honesty, however, the campsites are buffered from the racket by a ridge of dunes and all but the lightest r -sleeper should be able to snooze undisturbed, for photography or desert hiking, the area's unsurpassed, unsur-passed, A resident ranger . makes a daily circuit to-collect to-collect fees. With a ten dollar "fun tag" purchased from |