Blogs from Capitol Reef, Utah, United States, North America

May 27 We awoke this morning to the sound of rain, we thought. It was actually heavy sleet, pea sized that was accumulating fast. David dashed out with the dogs and I fixed us breakfast so we could get on the road. We knew rain was forecast but we only had 65 miles to go to Torrey. The heavy sleet continued all through breakfast. David had his heavy rain jacket as did I. As I brought in the slides and closed up the trailer I sure hoped the slides weren’t going to put a lot of water in the trailer. It didn’t thankfully due to the slide covers. The dogs were glad to get in the truck as the ground was covered by those pea sized pellets. I spent the next few minutes trying to get ... read more

We left Moab this morning and drove 160 miles or so to the next national park, Capital Reef. This park is situated along a certain geological feature, a long ridge of uplifted rock. The roads wind through the features of this uplift. We are camping within the national park in an area called Fruita. There was a pioneer Mormon settlement here and some of the buildings and the orchards are preserved. In fact, park visitors can pick the fruit in season, and we picked some peaches. The little store by the campground sells pies made from the fruit, and there is no sense even trying to resist that. We haven't been seeing much wildlife in this desert landscape but we have seen several mule deer here in Fruita. There is a silty stream that runs through ... read more

R: sounds a bit like a children's book... We moved on from Arches to Capitol reef, a smaller national park in between there and Bryce Canyon. Cate wasn't feeling too well so spent much of the drive with her eyes shut - so I am writing this bit as the only witness to the day's activities! It's about 3 hours drive between the two along Highway 12 - an official "all american road" apparently. I never really worked out what this actually means, but it is possibly one of the most scenic drives of my life (up there with the Transfagarasan road in Romania). Capitol Reef had some good vistas and lots of interesting rock formations made of numerous exposed layers. There were some Native American petroglyphs (rock carvings) to be found, and I did a ... read more

Capitol Reef... read more

This hike is described as a strenuous climb of 240 feet up one quarter mile switchbacks, then a moderate hike afterwards. A total of 3 and a half miles. The first bit was quite steep and tough. Very hot and dry so I took frequent water and rest breaks. At the top there was an amazing view of the area and indeed you were looking down upon Chimney Rock from an adjacent yet higher plateau. The trail back was quite convoluted, and I was wondering if I would ever link up with the loop. Not being good with directions, it always seemed I was hiking in the wrong direction! And in fact I was as the trail did eventually loop back. Pheeeeeeeeeeeeew! In total, including pictures at the summit, the hike took about 2 and a ... read more