As it was quite cool this morning, we started our day exploring Capitol Reef National Park a little later. UT-24, the road our campground is on, goes right into the National Park. However, there are several pull-outs, side roads and points of interest along the road before you get to the park. Of course, we had to stop at all of them.
Our first pull-over was to view Mummy Cliff. The formation shapes and red colors are amazing. Our next stop was to follow a gravel road to the Goosenecks Overlooks. These look down into the deep chasm created by the Sulphur Creek over the eons. You can see many millennium of layers eroded down. We then hiked the 1/2 mile trail out to Sunset Point. This was really spectacular. Each layer has a different color and texture. There was a bench right at the overlook, and we sat and enjoyed the view before returning to the car. Before returning to the main road, we stopped at Panorama Point overlook. Another panorama view - of the prairies on one side, and the mountain ridge on the other.
I can't say enough about the colors and the layers of the formations of the mountains along the road. They go on for hundreds of miles. I just love the creativity of Mother Nature. We finally arrived at the Visitor Center for the park. It is located in the Fruita Historic District portion of the park. This was a ranch created in the late 1800's by Mormon families. As it was along a stream, they actually had water and were mostly self-sufficient. They had extensive orchards as well as cattle ranches. Even so, it was a hard life. Some of the buildings and orchards are now preserved. There was a beautiful picnic area along the stream, so we ate our lunch there. Still there are two huge, ancient cottonwood trees. Very impressive.
There is a 20 mile round trip scenic drive through the park, which we drove. The first side dirt road is called the Grand Wash road, leading to the Grand Wash trail. We hiked the trail for about a mile and returned. It goes through the bottom of the canyon, with steep cliffs on both sides, and incredible formations all along the way. Oh, by the way, Butch Cassidy's gang was purported to have a hide out in this wash. Nice drive/hike.
We drove the rest of the scenic drive to the end of the paved section. Then, it continued on the Capitol Gorge Road, another gravel road, going another 2.4 miles. This drive was spectacular! It twisted and turned between mountain cliffs -- oh the colors and the formations! It was hard to drive, as I wanted to stop and look and take photos all along the way.
By this time, it was late in the afternoon, and was enough for one day. We'll come back tomorrow and do the trail.
Lots of photos of Capitol Reef National Park:
Mummy Cliff photo:
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