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Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park. 

A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view.  Yes sir!!


The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reefs as I drove back to the visitor center. The greens of the grass on bottom, the red and oranges of the reef in middle and the blue of the sky make for postcard-like photos. 


With the sun starting to set, I drove east through an opening in the reef toward a point the ranger had advised I could camp, since the main campground was full. I drove by some very cool looking petroglyphs made a thousand plus years ago by the Fremont People, an ancient Indian tribe.  The figures had trapezoid shapes making them appear like spaceman to me. So cool. I then hiked up to the Hickman natural bridge and enjoyed lovely canyon views, before driving on to my campsite.



Little did I know this free, unnamed campsite would have the best views in the whole park and I would have them all to myself. To celebrate the moment, I opened a bottle of wine I had purchased in Escalante (by carving out half the cork with a pocket knife and then pushing in the last half) and heated up a southwest beans and rice dinner, and sat by the canyon edge enjoying the serenity and peace of my secret site. Vistas east and west at the secret campsite:





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  1. David FrankstoneMay 6, 2015 at 10:30 AM

    The purchase of a corkscrew would be a worthwhile expenditure Great views and photos. Pay attention when your body says "rest. "

    ReplyDelete

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