Capitol Reef (not a capitol or a reef...)

After a leisurely morning in Green River, Utah we headed directly for Capitol Reef National Park, roughly an hour and a half away. Upon arrival at the visitor center we asked a ranger what we should do in the park. She replied by asking: “Do you like pie?” I could tell that it would be a good day.

Capitol Reef featured many unique and varied rock formations along a fault known as the Waterpocket Fold. We saw the capitol dome on the drive into the park and shot a picture of it’s oddly shaped spire:



We drove the scenic drive and took a dirt-road spur towards Capitol Gorge. With clouds looming overhead, we didn’t want to get caught in a flash flood and went to the historic Gifford House. A tiny community named Fruita existed for many years before the parks’ creation. Many of their orchards and irrigation ditches are still used by the park today and attract mule deer to pose next to the road. The Gifford House was a historic home and also sold jellies, jams and pies made from the orchard fruit. We bought a blackberry pie and gorged ourselves!

Our next stop was a ranger-led talk on Fremont petroglyphs that exist within the park. We were saddened to find out that most of the ancient drawings are kept secret because they invite graffiti. Not much is known about the Fremont people but the glyphs were similar to those that we saw at Dinosaur National Monument.

After a hike to the Hickman Natural Bridge (which was uphill both-ways!) we headed west on scenic route twelve towards Escalante State Park for the night. We met Lisa’s cousin’s Mary and Karen there for a delicious cajun meal and went to bed early.