Walk with Goblins and Capitol Reef

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If you are staying or passing though Torrey eat at Cafe Diablo, we had great food sitting out on the patio under the stars ... Such an enormous portion of pecan breaded chicken ( back in England chicken breasts are never that big ) that we had it for picnic next day.

Capitol Reef National Park was another day of surprises with fantastic overlooks along canyons, massive cliffs and white rock domes and then nestling in a canyon the area of Fruita along by the Fremont River , where some enterprising pioneers built a homestead and found they could grow fruit and sustain life in this remote region. You can actually pick fruit yourself it is harvest time .... This is the only historic orchard maintained by the NPS and there are more than 3000 trees, apple , peach, pear, apricot, plum and cherry.

The Historic Gifford House hosts displays some exhibits of Mormon Pioneers history and selas jams pickles and fresh baked pies ... Best apple pie I have ever had. And not only that it is the perfect place to have a picnic of that left over chicken and you might be lucky to see the mule deer just alongside the house . The rock called Capitol Dome is so named as it resembles the US Capitol and is a dome of white Navajo sandstone. This dome along with Waterpocket Fold is a 100 mile rock barrier which obstructed early settlers like a "barrier reef" ... at some point these hardy pioneers blasted there way through rocks and let the wagons down the slope bit by bit, also tales of men digging by hand 10 mile long channels to bring river water into their settlement.

Next on to view some petroglyphs which were carved into Wingate sandstone by the Fremont people from 600 to1300AD....animals and people are depicted here.

So yes we are really enjoying ourselves on this road trip and each day brings us new experiences and lots of smiley faces.

For our next stop there were lots of happy smiley faces , it was such fun to walk amongst the Goblins at Goblin Valley state park...so many thanks to fellow blogger Dancing Dave who tipped me off about this place or I would not have made a bit of a detour to view it. On Highway 24 between Hanksville and I70 there is a turn off and you go about 8-10 miles to reach Goblin Valley where there is an overlook and better still you can go down and be right there with the goblins. Judge for yourself if you think these rock structure put a smile on your face ?.

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Photos

Goblin Valley State Park
With my new friend !

Comments

[Dancing Dave]

The Seasons...Wow
This pic blows me away Lynne. I traipsed through thick snow to what I call the Three Wise Goblins...yet your pic shows what was under the snow. Denise said "My goodness" when she saw this pic. An extraordinary example of the diversity of this region as exhibited by the seasons. i would love to see any pics of the Goblins Castle as it was majestic and etherial when we were there.