Antelope Canyon pink sand
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge Shades of #Pink in the Great Outdoors

Welcome back to the Sunday Stills monthly color challenge. It’s all about pink this month, and we celebrate pinks found in the outdoors. But any shade of pink will do wherever it is found. According to online sources, there are over 250 shades of pink: think shell pink, coral, fuchsia, rose, dusty pink, salmon, etc!

To start you off, here is something you won’t see every day! A pink rainbow created by smoke particles was reflected off this fiery August 2023 sunset at home.

pink rainbow
Wildfire smoke-induced Pink Rainbow

“In the window full of sunlight / Concentrates her golden shadow / Fold on fold, until it glows as / Mellow as the glory roses.” – David Herbert Lawrence

This week, my focus is on pink colors found outdoors. I’m sharing views of private lands and spaces. I’ll also feature special attractions along with public lands. The US National Park Service recognizes June as National Outdoors Month. They also recognize the second weekend in June as Get Outdoors Day!

“Great Outdoors Month celebrations continue with National Get Outdoors Day, held on the second Saturday in June, is a nationwide event coordinated by the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable and the US Forest Service.” SOURCE

On our drive back home from our recent trip to Arizona, we drove on Highway 89 through Northern Arizona into Southern Utah. This entire area is known for its striking pink rock formations.

Pink Rock formation Utah
Southern Utah’s Pink Rock Formations

Horseshoe Bend’s coral pink rocks draw visitors to this attraction near Page, Arizona. Horseshoe Bend was created by the meandering of the Colorado River, sculpted into a horseshoe-shaped canyon.

Horseshoe Bend
Horseshoe Bend’s coral rocks

Page, Arizona, was built in 1957 as a housing community. It was developed during the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam for workers and their families. The City of Page was obtained in a land exchange with the Navajo Nation. It sits adjacent to the Navajo Nation on the northwest corner of the reservation.

Just minutes from Page are the famous Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, part of the Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park.

Antelope Canyon pink sand
Pink sand on canyon floor
woman contemplating walls of antelope Canyon
Contemplating the Antelope Canyon

The slot canyons are renowned for their pink and coral sandstone canyon walls and pink sand.

Navajo Flautist Antelope Canyon
Navajo Tour Guide plays his mellow flute in Antelope Canyon

Heading north into Southern Utah, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park attracts hikers and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) enthusiasts. We never manage to make this side trip. However, along the highway, there are hints of coral sand, as shown here.

pink sand dunes
Coral Pink Sand Dunes
Pink rocks Kanab Utah
Kanab’s pink rocks and a hiker rocking PINK give you an idea of the scale!

Also in southern Utah are two well-known National Parks, Zion and Bryce Canyon. We have yet to visit Zion. But, we visited Bryce Canyon in April 2023. Winter snow still graced the pink and coral hoodoos, fins, and spires in the park at that time.

Wall of Windows from Bryce Point
Wall of Windows from Bryce Point

During another road trip in 2020, we drove from Sacramento to Nevada. We visited the Valley of Fire State Park. This is a must-see attraction, costing only a $10 entry fee. Particularly pink were the petroglyphs…

Ancient Anasazi Petroglyphs

Or you can simply wear a pink shirt to blend in.

Valley of Fire

Perhaps the rocks love to show off their shades of pink, but I happen to know that spring and early summer sport plenty of flowers in unending shades of pink.

tulips
Tulip farm
tulip
Pink Tulip

“The color pink is often associated with nurturing and love. It is believed to have a calming effect and is used in color therapy to help reduce feelings of aggression and resentment.” SOURCE

pink flower border

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

Sharing for Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday and Lens-Artists: Mellow.

I can’t wait to see how you interpret the various shades of PINK this week! Your pinks do not have to exist in the outdoors.

“Pink is a beautiful color, because it is one of the colors that the sun makes at twilight and in the dawns.” – C. Joy Bell

Colorful dawn in the mountains
Early pink dawn

If you are participating in the photo challenge, creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore PATHS AND TRAILS.

graphic

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122 comments

  2. When I was in California, I thought it would rain when there were clouds in the sky, but the clouds disappeared by mid morning. That was the problem. As soon as the sun is a little bit warm, it dries up the moisture in the air. I’m afraid the wildlife is inevitable, Terri. 😔

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  3. Gorgeous pretty pink nature, Terri! I love the pink canyon and the pink flowers. I love the pink sky during sunset but pink rainbow filtered by wildfire smoke is terrible. I took some photos of the sky and sun after the wildfire. It was intense.

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  19. What a great colour choice for Pride month, Terri. Pink is a colour anyone can wear these days.

    The horseshoe bend is a fantastic example of earth formation, having taken millions of years to form over the course of time. It was probably from the last ice age. Is the rock art you featured old or more modern? I’ve seen cave drawings that are thousands of years old, but they were always inside rather than outside. Any artwork outside would get eroded over time by the weather, so I expect the artwork featured may be more modern?

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    • Thank you, Hugh, I didn’t think of Pride Month when I planned pink for June last year.

      So much of the southwest has these red rocks mostly made of sandstone. Even the slot canyons (ex. Antelope) are subject to constant changed made by water and wind. I googled Valley of Fire for the age of the petroglyphs. They’re 3000 years old. The rocks have significant iron ore so they don’t degrade as fast despite the elements. In this particular area, humans can’t get to these easily so they can stand the test of time. Valley of Fire is an hour drive northeast of Las Vegas. Great question and you made me do my homework. 😁🩷

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  23. I never realized there was so much pink in nature. Your photos are stunning Terri. I especially loved the desert shades of pink. ❤

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  28. Definitely hit my pretty in pink pictures and all beautiful. Makes me long for getting back to our Bryce camping spot. Glad to know you found some time for Utah on your return journey!

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  37. Portland is full of pinks. The Rose Festival was this week, but Randy didn’t want to go because of crowds. I get that with driving here! So, we found lots of other beautiful sights to share.

    See you Over a Cuppa. 🙂 xxx

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  44. You have such an array of beautiful pink images Terri. I was amazed at your statistics on the color pink and how many shades of pink there are. From the Antelope Canyon, to pink dunes, pink rocks and pink skies, they are all wonderful natural colors, even the pretty tulips. Even you were looking and feeling “in in the pink!” You sure covered it all here. My post will be along at 11:00 p.m. and will feature the Eastern Redbud trees, Dogwood, some pink tulips, plus a tale about goslings.

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    • Thank you, Linda! I made sure to show some new images from our recent trip of passing through Kanab, Utah! The tiny hikers on the face of the pinkish rock (lady wearing pink) was a lucky catch, LOL! I was feeling in the pink as we drove back toward home knowing we had two nights in Montana to look forward to.

      I’m not in the pink with Duolingo these days. I’m annoyed at how the app pushes you through the units, as well as the feeling of competition–I am barely retaining any thing I’ve learned. Of course there were distractions, but there are other app issues as well. Our local library has a program called Mango Languages which I’m looking into this week. I’ll keep up with Duo through the year, maybe. we’ll see.

      I look forward to your post!

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      • Utah looks like a beautiful place to visit. Years ago my boss and his family went whitewater rafting in Moab and they took lots of pictures from the raft.

        I have noticed lately every time I finish the Friends Quest, once I complete it, even if I am doing the 15-minute/40-point bonus for the Daily Quest, they interrupt it, sometimes, just a few minutes into it to start the Friends 30-minute quest. So I lose out some double points. Right now I am at number 2 so I should be back at Diamond tonight.

        A fellow blogger and her husband travel all over the world and recently returned from three weeks in France. She is Canadian and said she forgot most of her French learned in school – she is in her late 60s, but wants to learn French again. I told her if she doesn’t opt for Duolingo, she could try the Busuu app and I just checked and it is good for Spanish. They use AI to have conversations and feedback with others on the platform. Maybe that is an option for you Terri.

        Hope my pink post doesn’t disappoint. 🙂

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      • I don’t think there is a boring place in Utah, Linda.

        I read an article about the negatives of Duo and saw Busuu as an alternative. If mango goes well, we may not renew Duo at the end of the year. I guess a 6 year streak will be OK to live with. 😆

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      • From all the pictures I’ve seen of Utah I have to agree with you Terri. Yes, a six-year streak would not be hard to live with at all. My renewal is up in late October.

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  54. Photos from Antelope Canyon never cease to amaze me, Terri and the rest of the scenic views are pretty amazing too. And we couldn’t have a ‘pink’ topic without some gorgeous flowers. Have a great day and a wonderful week ahead!

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  55. For all of our winters in Arizona, I am ashamed to admit we haven’t yet seen Antelope Canyon. That’s got to be on our agenda, maybe for our trip to Tucson or back from there when we return to Fargo!

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