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Capitol Reef National Park - Utah

Our circle loop of Utah's 'Mighty Five' began with Capitol Reef National Park.  Capitol Reef is in the heart of red-rock country and is best known for its 'water pocket fold' (a wrinkle in the earth) that extends ~100 miles.  It is less visited than Utah's other National Parks and we enjoyed the perks of finding parking and having some solitude on our hikes.



We camped right in the park.  Camping in a pop-up without electricity is easy when the temperature is just right, there is no threat of rain and there are no bears to worry about.  The Fruita campground is aptly named as it is situated right next to one of Capital Reef's orchards.  Mormon pioneers planted the orchards years ago.  The National Park has since protected the land and continues to manage the orchards annually.  It was strange to find fruit orchards in the middle of the desert but we enjoyed U-PICK pears and apples (free of charge) on a daily basis.



Cassidy Arch-
Named after Butch Cassidy (the infamous outlaw who hid in canyons in these parts), Cassidy Arch sits 400 ft above the ground and is spectacular.  The kids had fun climbing rock faces and following the cairns that marked the trail.  We hiked switchback trails and avoided the steep drop-offs while we made our way to the arch.








Can you find Mike and the boys on top of the Arch?  Chelsea had no interest in venturing onto  the 12 ft arch hovering over a 400 ft drop.  I welcomed the excuse to keep her company!


Parker had fun chasing lizards and managed to catch a few!  A couple of them escaped by dropping their tails and, much to Parker's surprise and enjoyment, he was left holding a moving lizard tail that was no longer attached to a lizard!



Fremont River Trail-
As I was heading out for a run before dinner, Parker decided he wanted to join me.  We followed a trail that left from the campground and ended up climbing a ridge that overlooked the Fremont River.



Sunset Point-
After a quiet afternoon catching up on school work, playing games and watching deer in the orchards, we hiked to Sunset Point to watch the sun light up the red rocks.  It was very windy and the sky was constantly changing colours as we could seem storm clouds in the distance.







Hickman Bridge-
The following morning we tackled the park's most popular hike to the Hickman Bridge.  Again, we followed switchback trails over rock faces and arrived at another spectacular site.


Can you find Mike and Parker exploring the floor of the canyon?

Mother Nature has a way of making us feel so small.  Can you find Parker in his green shirt?


Cohab Canyon-
As the heat of the day dissipated, we headed out before dinner to a trail that left from the road in the campground.  We had the canyon to ourselves after hiking yet more steep switchback trails.  The kids had fun exploring different nooks and crannies.








Capitol Reef has many educational talks and we were able to take advantage of the nightly sessions in the amphitheatre in the campground.  We learned a lot about desert plants and owls in the 2 sessions we attended.  Unfortunately, we found the afternoons too hot to partake in the solar-gazing sessions and we were too tired at night to stay up for the star-gazing programs.

Capitol Reef was spectacular and our pictures just don't do it justice!



Comments

  1. Hey Rose - just saw this comment now... our pictures could not do justice to this landscape. It is so huge and our limited photography skills and equipment make it so hard to capture perspectives - we make do with what we've got. On the upside, if you ever get down to Utah, you'll be glad to discover we've undersold it!

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