A Beautiful Place

Last week Greg and I had a fantastic time. We have been wanting to go to Capitol Reef National Park for a while now. We had plans to visit it last year, but then found so many fun things to see in Escalante that we didn't make it all the way to Capitol Reef.

So last Monday we left way before dawn on our grand adventure. The photography forum that I am a part of has people who have been everywhere. I asked the group where we should stay to visit the park. Everyone who had been there said that we should stay in the park at Fruita. Well, the only place you can stay at Fruita is at the campground. I called the campground and they assured me that there would be showers we could use in the town that is about 5 miles away. So we decided that if there were restaurants we could eat dinner at and showers to use, we would camp at the campground.

What a great decision that was. Fruita is the headquarters for the park so we were close to the visitor's center and all the main attractions of the park. We were within walking distance of the old pioneer buildings and could hike right from the campground. It was a beautiful campground with grass and lots of trees. We hiked to our heart's content and went on three gorgeous drives. To really see the park you have to go on some dirt roads. We had a blast exploring.

Capitol Reef is just as fantastic as Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Escalante, and Zion. Our favorite activity was a hike to Cassidy Arch. It wasn't a long hike, but we climbed over 1300 feet in a couple of miles. It was strenuous, but we both made it and loved every minute of it.

Cassidy Arch


The landscape along the trail


The Castle


There's not much water in the park so when you find a waterfall, you have to take a photo of it!! We did camp at the Fremont River, so that was nice.




Besides the early Indians, Mormon pioneers were the first modern people to settle in the area. Their old buildings and artifacts are a central feature of the park. I can't imagine how hard their life was. They lived along the river and grew fruit orchards, but they kept getting washed out by flash floods, so they gave up on living there. The park has kept their old orchards going and if you visit there in the summer you can pick all the fruit you can eat.

Here is a pioneer registry carved on a canyon wall. The canyon where this was carved was the path they took to get through the reef. Now it is just a hiking trail. I can't imagine trying to drive through there.... If you look above the trees you can see the names that are in the second photo really small on the wall. The ground shows what the area was like that they drove through to get out of the reef.




Thirteen people were in the family who lived in this house. There was only room for two children and the parents to sleep in the house, the rest slept in the cave.....can you imagine....it snows there in the winter. We think we are picked on if we don't have air conditioning.



There's lots more to tell, but it will have to be later..... I hope you get to see the park for yourself someday if you haven't done so already. I wouldn't take little kids there, though. To see it you have to either hike or drive a lot. Not a great combination for little ones.