Red Rocks! Capitol Reef, Canyonlands & Arches National Parks.
We woke up our last morning at Ruby’s refreshed and excited to drive on. Bryce Canyon had been amazing but we were ready to get out of the crowds. Today we would be driving a few hours to the 3rd Utah park on our list, Capitol Reef. The drive today would take us through some amazing landscapes and ones that we did not want to miss. Less than an hour into our drive our first stop was Kodachrome State Park. Being from Rochester, NY we had to stop here as Kodak’s headquarters are in the city. Kodachrome is the name of the Kodak camera company’s all time best selling film and at one point the most widely used film in the world. It wasn’t too far off our route so we drove out to the park. Once we arrived we found out that the state of Utah had asked Kodak if they could use the Kodachrome name to name the park. They did this as they felt that only the Kodachrome film could capture the amazing shades of red found in the park. The park itself was small but there was a lot to see. There were hoodoos, arches and even a cauldron which you could drive into. It was a great first stop for the day. We had a few other short stops on the way to Capitol Reef, the best being a coffee house, which was built into a rock almost in the middle of the Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Finally though we arrived in the town of Torrey, our home for the next few nights.
The next morning we woke up excited. Part of the park extended past our campsite, which was an amazing first view when we stepped out of the van in the morning. Before getting into the story of the first day at Capitol Reef here is a little background. While the park is only 10-15 miles wide its over 100 miles long so it has an interesting shape to it. A “reef” in a desert sense is a long piece of rock that has been pushed up from the earth’s crust. Its not really a mountain but more of a long plateau that has minimal passes to get through it. Early settlers called it a reef because as sailors in the ocean had to go around reef’s to pass, so did the early settlers in their wagons. The main objective for the day today was to check out the preserved town in the park by the name of Fruita.
The area around Capitol Reef is exactly what you think of when you think of desert Utah. Red rocks, cliffs, sand and sagebrush. After taking a picture with the entrance sign we ventured in stopping at a few places to take short hikes to overlooks. As there is not much paved road in the park these were generally busy which after fighting for every square inch that we needed in Zion we were looking for more the road less traveled paths. After stopping in the visitors center, picking up a map and watching a short film on the park we set out to explore the preserved town of Fruita. I’ve been to quite a few national parks and I had never seen a preserved ghost town in a park before. Fruita had been settled in the 1880’s by Swiss-Mormon settlers sent to the area as they were great fruit growers. The great part about the town is that the orchards still exist and are maintained by the National Park Service. They are also “you pick” orchards and for $2 a pound you can have as many apples, pears & peaches that you can pick! We explored the town for a bit which is in a canyon and its own little paradise. Unlike on top of the canyon where there is nothing but sagebrush and sand, inside the canyon where the town sits is lush with a river running through it and green everywhere. There were even deer just strolling about. It was pretty crazy after not seeing anything green since one of our hikes in Zion a few days earlier. From Fruita we took the only paved road in the park which wound about 15 miles through the desert going through washes (areas where flash floods happen when it rains) over small vistas and ending in a canyon which you could take your car if you have 4 wheel drive. It was a really neat drive and one that made us wish that Bubbles was a bit more off road capable than she is. As the afternoon was starting to wind down we decided to call it a day and head back to the campground for the night.
The next day we woke up early. Since most of Capitol Reef was only accessible by an off-road vehicle we had booked an off-road tour for the day. We headed into town and met our guide Kevin as well as another couple Bert & Yolanda from Ithaca, NY who would be joining us on the tour. We hopped into a heavily modified Chevy Suburban and we were off. After driving through the paved portion of the park that we had been on the day before in Bubbles we turned off road where we would stay for the next 100 miles. Almost immediately Kevin started telling us stories of finding people on the dirt roads of the park who were not prepared for the rugged backcountry. He had found couples as well as entire groups of people who had decided to venture out in their rental cars and had gotten stuck. We were pretty glad we had the rugged power of the suburban at that point. Some of the highlights from the all day tour were seeing the Temple of the Sun & Moon, Cathedral Valley with thousands of lava fins sticking out from the ground and Thousand Lake Mountain. It was an amazing tour and we would highly recommend it. We booked the tour through Fremont Fishing Guides – http://www.flyfishingsouthernutah.com under their vehicle tour section. From the tour end point we headed over to a small café – Café Diablo (A non-mormon establishment deep in Mormon country) for an appetizer and drink before heading back to our campground for the night. It was an awesome day! Words can’t even describe how great the views were on this tour but luckily video can. Please watch!
The next day we woke up and packed up. It was a travel day for us. Today we would be headed to Moab, UT where we would be able to see the last 2 of the Mighty 5 parks. On the way though we would be stopping at another one of Utah’s State Parks, Goblin Valley. Goblin Valley was almost in the middle of our drive to Moab so it made for a good spot for lunch. Goblin Valley also looks like something that comes straight out of mars. In Goblin Valley there are hundreds of hoodoos. These hoodoos unlike the ones that we saw at Bryce Canyon have less a tall tower shape and more of a shorter mushroom shape. (Shorter being 10-15 foot range). We parked the car at an overlook and hiked the short way down into the valley walking around the strange mushroom like figures taking pictures and video as we went. We would have liked to stay longer but the 105-degree heat was a bit much for us so we retreated to a covered picnic area and had lunch watching people walk in and out of the mushroom shaped rocks. After lunch we hopped back in Bubbles and headed to Moab.
We awoke at the KOA in Moab the next day ready and raring to go as always. Our park to visit for the day was Canyonlands. The park was only located about half an hour outside of Moab so it was not a long drive at all. After getting into the park and checking out the visitors center (and stopping to stare at 2 huge German off-road RV’s) we drove into the park. Canyonlands is named Canyonlands for obvious reasons….the park is full of huge canyons carved out by the Colorado river. Like Capitol Reef the park is huge and there are not many paved roads. We didn’t book an off road tour for Canyonlands so we made the most of what the paved road had to offer. We made stops in the section of the park called “Island in the Sky” which was a huge area overlooking a few canyons hundreds of feet below us. We also hiked to see Mesa Arch and Upheaval Dome, both awesome little hikes. We loved what we saw at Canyonlands and wished we had more time (and an off road vehicle) but it was time to head back to Moab and prepare for the next day.
The next day (our last in Moab) we woke up early and headed to Arches National Park. We had passed by it the previous day going to Canyonlands around 930am and had seen a line of cars 30 long waiting to get into the park so we decided to get a jump start on them and entered around 8am. From the entrance we drove straight to the most famous feature of the park (and maybe the most famous feature of all of the Utah parks) Delicate Arch. Normally when Julie & I hike we tend to take the easier hikes, 1-3 miles and with a gentle grade if any. We didn’t realize it but this hike turned out to be one of the more difficult ones in the park. It started out relatively flat but before we knew it we were walking up a steep rock hill then over boulders, sand pits and finally out on a rock ledge before getting to the arch roughly an hour and a half later. The reward though of seeing the arch close up and actually being able to touch was amazing. If anyone is ever in Arches National Park please go and do the Delicate Arch hike, it is 100% worth it. From Delicate Arch we drove back through the park stopping at the Salt Valley overlook as well as hiking into Devils Garden to see a few more arches. After the Devils Garden hike we were exhausted. Hiking in 100 degree weather really takes a lot out of you. From Arches we drove a short distance to a winery for a tasting before finding a beach on the Colorado river and hung out for a bit cooling off. We then headed back to the RV park proud that we had seen all of Utah’s Mighty 5!
Next up……Julie’s birthday bash in Las Vegas plus Salt Lake & Park City, Utah.
