Capitol Reef National Park was much more than we expected. It’s probably due to the fact that it’s overshadowed by Bryce, Zion and Arches National Parks which seem to be much more popular. We decided to take a trip to the Capitol Reef National Park visitor center immediately after we set up camp. That turned out to be a great decision since the day was gorgeous and we had a deep blue cloudless sky for a background as we took many pictures of the park with the sun shining from a perfect direction. The pictures turned out beautiful but as always, they still can’t do the area justice. The following day was also very nice, although a bit cloudy which turned out perfect for our hike along the Fremont Trail. This was a 4 mile trail that had an elevation change of 770 feet which allowed us some fantastic panoramic views. The trail was winding, rocky and narrow and it dipped up and down with some very steep grades. For me, this is the most enjoyable of all types of trails. Before we took the hike, we drove down an 18 mile paved scenic road through the park where we stopped at several outlooks for more spectacular views. Unfortunately, we couldn’t continue down the unpaved portion of the road as we had planned due to flash flooding from recent rains and more rain that was in the forecast. The following day was rainy at times and cloudy most of the day but we still took a ride down to an area of the park we hadn’t seen yet. Along the way we stopped to see some petroglyphs that were hundreds, possibly thousands of years old as well as an old farmhouse, schoolhouse and blacksmith shop left behind by the early settlers. Unfortunately, due to the rainy weather that arrived, our planned trip down scenic route 12 to Escalante needed to be cancelled and will have to wait until another visit. We’ve come to realize that no matter how much time we allow at any one place, we just can’t see everything we want to. This is a beautiful area and we’re sure we’ll get back here someday.
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