Capitol Reef

From Wikipedia – The park’s Waterpocket Fold is a 100-mile (160 km) monocline that exhibits the earth’s diverse geologic layers. Other natural features include monoliths, cliffs, and sandstone domes shaped like the United States Capitol.

• Established: 12/18/1971
• Annual Visitors: 1,227,627
• Size: 241,905 acres

Capitol Reef Sept. 17, 2020

We were incorrect when we thought that the parks would be less crowded in the fall. Our thoughts were that students (kids and college) would be back in school…whether that meant virtually or in buildings… and that people are starting to return to work. What we didn’t expect was having trouble finding lodging. It’s fabulous to see all ages out and about but logistically it’s made it more difficult. We need to think more ahead and we have changed our roughed out itinerary to stay one night vs. two- and three-nights vs one at various places due to availability. When we walked the Camino de Santiago (three times, 500 miles on foot, a link to those adventures are also on our home page) we would walk into a town, look at a couple choices of places to stay, pick one and hunker down. On this trip we thought we would call ahead a day or two at the most to allow for flexibility but we are finding that fall is a high season where we are…Bryce and Zion coming up…and the hotels are full. Some NV hotels are booked through Oct 10^th!  Jackson, WY is $250/night at Motel 6! In most places, if there are vacancies, there are only a few hotels that accept dogs and only a select few rooms for dogs in each of those locations. Tonight, we are at what we would call a basic motel in Torrey, UT (population 240people at 6,837 vertical ft) just outside Capitol Reef NP. The room is small, has an exterior door (we like that), no fridge/coffee maker/micro (my bad, forgot to ask), vinyl flooring, shower no tub and equivalent to what we were paying last week ($70) for the same accommodations but with a fridge, coffee maker and microwave. This motel is $100/night incl the $15 dog fee. We planned on staying in Torrey two nights but we could not get the same room both nights so we are moving to Bryce ahead of schedule. But, I must add, the views are quite spectacular and the lodging choices in this small town are a select few. The reason for the shortage of lodging, according to a couple hotel owners is an increase in dogs traveling with their owners because there is a sharp increase in vehicle travel (vs flying). Leased vehicles (minivans, camper vans, larger campers you haul and driving large RV) are in abundance on the roads in addition to SUVs and 4x4s with roof campers.

Random side notes:  (course, if you know me at all, there are a lot of side notes in my writing and conversations!)

1. Travel + Leisure Magazine has reported that Michelob Ultra Pure Gold beer distributor is looking for a CEO…Chief Exploration Officer to tour the National Parks: A van,  $50k, expenses covered and beer! Just in case anyone is interested! : )
2. We are trying to get a geocache in each state we drive through, we got our UT geocache in Moab at Corona Arch Trail.

Ok, back to the regularly scheduled journal! Driving between Hanksville and Torrey UT there is a kaleidoscope of colored rocks, a geologist’s play yard! The layers are in blue, red, black, white, beige, grey, brown and green. The Dirty Devil and Fremont Rivers run through this area. See pictures.

We entered the Fruita Historic District and the home to Capitol Reef National Park. I have read that the park is called Capitol Reef because early settlers thought the Navajo sandstone rounded hills resembled the top of the Washington DC capitol dome. There are turn offs to view some 1000 yr. old petroglyphs (see incredible close up photos Gary took), a 1912 built school house, 2000 cherry, apricot, peach, pear, apple, plum, mulberry, almond, and walnut trees in various orchards planted by Mormon settlers in Fruita, UT (fruit-a) in the 1880s. On the scenic drive in the park is the 1908 Gifford Homestead which is now a bakery with outstanding cinnamon rolls and homemade pies of which we bought 2! We got several wonderful pictures of Rangeley with the horses on the Gifford property and enjoyed a deer up close for quite some time. See video and pictures. We stopped at a great grassy picnic area across from the Gifford House. It has parking, tables, restrooms and access to the Fremont River which was low and perfect for a stick chasing pup! The large Cottonwood trees and huge red rocks reminded us of Sedona and Cottonwood, AZ.  A Collette Tours bus has been following us through some of these parks. There are only 16 ppl on board but Wendy from Denver, the tour guide, was grateful for the group ranging from 20’s to over 80 yrs. old. She mentioned the tour company is steadily increasing their mainly outdoor tours with health precautions in place.

On this sunny, 80-degree day we drove to the end of the 20-mile round trip Scenic Drive. There are campgrounds, turn offs and amazing cliffs of all colors as mentioned above. The road is narrow and at times we needed to pull way right with passing cars from the other direction.  Gary and I were wondering what would happen if two large campers had to pass one another??

What an incredible journey we are having including today’s experience of great weather, wonderful but incredible changing scenery of southern Utah and being around other healthy, friendly outdoor loving people.

Our next stop: Bryce Canyon National Park.