Underdog National Park: Capitol Reef!

September 11, 2018

Capitol Reef is the least visited of the five Utah national parks. A lot of people might skip this one. But not us :)

(hickman bridge at Capitol Reef)

We are on a mission! And adventure mission. So off we headed at 7am this morning towards the middle part of the state.

The drive here was so unusual! At one moment it felt like we were in a weird sci-fi place. But it definitely always reminded us of being on the bottom of an ocean floor.

We also had Grace and Brie in the backseat continuing, yet again, to serenade us to "My Favorite Things" :) And playing make-believe with stuffed animals. And finally, playing with kindles.

Here are some of the shots of our drive over:

(so much sand! so FLAT!)

(then you turn a corner and wam! a sunflower field)

(picking a few flowers! they are all over the place up here on the side of the road)

(freaky grey mounds and grey sand)

(coming up to Capitol Reef park)

Upon entering the park, we first headed for the Visitor's Center to get our maps and Junior Ranger booklets. They advised us of a few "easy" hikes, but I had heard about Hickman Bridge. The ranger said that is the iconic and most popular hike in the park. It is "moderate" and only 1.8 mile roundtrip. The parents were game for it (the kids not so much, ha), so on went the camelbacks and up the hill we went! It was an insanely gorgeous hike with lots of different kinds of scenery. There were a lot of people hiking the trail, all very friendly. On this trip, the majority of our fellow travelers have been elderly folks either in RV's or on group tours. But everyone is very friendly! Almost everyone you pass on the trail says "hello!" to you. A lot of them have commented and said they like my America-themed shirts. And all of them are willing to stop and chat with you about where they are from, what they have seen, etc. It has been wonderful!

Below are views of our hike up to and back from Hickman bridge:

After the hike we went and saw real petroglyphs carved in rock (!) and an old Mormon schoolhouse in Fruita. It took a while for the kids to find the petroglyphs because they were carved high up, but they all eventually saw them.

The kids were STARVING at this point, so we had our picnic lunch in a massive grassy shady picnic area and the kids were able to do their Junior Ranger booklets, take them back and get their badges!

Finally, we got to pick pears from trees! The mormons who used to live in the area planted tons of fruit trees that bear different kinds of fruits at different times of the year, and now tourists can use cool ladders and other tools to pull down the fruit! The kids loved this and we all got to enjoy crisp pears :)

We ended our time in the park with fresh pies and ice cream at the Gifford House, eating next to the horses :) The weather in the shade was perfectly breezy, but the flies soon started becoming a problem so we headed out. But we took wonderful memories of the green Capitol Reef park with us!

Tonight we are staying at the super nice Capitol Reef Resort with gorgeous views, a wonderful pool and wagons! Yes, we are spending the night in a wagon and the girls have been spending the past hour running around pretending they are on Little House on the Prairie. Brie in Laura, Josie is Mary, Noah is Pa, and Grace is Mr. Edwards. It has been quite amusing to listen to! Although we have had to remind them to keep down the noise a bit - there are other people here too :) And the weather here by the fire is PERFECT. I like this place :)