On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
frosty
Capitol Reef: Southern Utah, not near anything, really. We lucked into a Forest Service campground without reservations.
We spent a day in Capitol Reef, taking a couple of short hikes, driving the Scenic Road, and heading down a couple of dirt roads to see some areas that aren’t visible from the pavement.
The park is named after two features: A dome of rock that looks like the Capitol (First picture) and a 100-mile long series of cliffs and rock formations that was a barrier to travel, which the pioneers called a reef (Second Picture).
But as far as our travels were concerned, we had a big oops. We arrived and pulled into Fruita Campground at Capitol Reef NP, where I made reservations last December. We drove to our site and there was someone else’s name on the post at the site … wha? I checked my emails and … we were reserved for JUNE 27th, not MAY 27th!
We figured we’d have to be boondocking since it was Thursday before Memorial Day and everyone was booked solid. There was a Forest Service campground a few miles away where we could fill up the water tank. We talked to the camp host even though all the sites were occupied or reserved, and she who allowed that in seven years only one camper had ever used the handicapped site, so she let us set up there. So, we ended up dry camping in a nice site in a Ponderosa Pine forest. Not too bad.
Capitol Dome
The Reef
Wingate Sandstone. This formation erodes into really interesting shapes (we’ve been learning some geology)
Mule deer walk through the orchards. They’re also seen frequently in the nearby Fruita Campground.
Head of the Grand Wash backroad and trail. There are four mine openings in this picture that date from the 50s when uranium ore was prospected in the Chinle Formation.
Grand Wash trail.
Route to Capitol Gorge Trail. According to my guidebook, this was originally a Mormon trail and later the main automobile route between Torrey and Hanksville until Utah 24 was completed in 1962!
Forest Service campsite, Singletree Campground off of Utah 12.
Mary G
Great geologic formations! Thank you for sending ome oeace and beauty I am badly in need of.
Lapassionara
We drove through Capitol Reef years ago. We loved it. Thanks for the memories.
Wag
Great place! I live Capital Reef. And if you time your visit right, you can pick fruit to your heart’s content from the apricot trees at the Fruita campground. Best apricots ever!
Betty
Looking at the rock formations never gets old. It seemed weird to see all the greenery nearby when the other areas are so stark. Thanks for the tour.
SiubhanDuinne
Those geologic formations are simply breathtaking! And how lucky you were to get a sympathetic ranger who allowed you to use the handicapped space. I know you would have vacated it immediately if required, but it’s always refreshing to hear of a bureaucrat who isn’t rule-bound :-)
Thanks for the narrative and the gorgeous photos.
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne: We would definitely have vacated if needed. The Camp Host was flexible that weekend. I noticed that she had allowed a couple of trailers to use the group camping parking area when no scouts or other groups showed up.
Hawthorne Bridge
Thanks for sharing frosty. Capitol Reef is my brother’s favorite National Park. Last year we visited the orchard with intent to pick but off limits due to COVID-19. Campground closed as well so we stayed in Torrey. Ever try the Cathedral Valley side?
azlib
Yes, Capitol Reef is gorgeous. We got to RV next to the orchard in Fruita a few years ago. I ended up doing some biking to some petroglyphs along the main park road. When I get a chance, I’d like to return. It was my favorite Utah national park.
stinger
Beautiful! I hadn’t heard of Capitol Reef NP before this. Now it’s on The List.
TriassicSands
Thanks for the photographs of this wonderful park.
For what it’s worth, the dark, eroded rock in the third photograph is part of the Moenkopi Formation, not Wingate sandstone. The lighter colored vertical cliffs at the top of the photo are Wingate sandstone. Between the Wingate and the Moenkopi Formation is the Chinle Formation.
In Utah, Wingate sandstone forms endless miles of vertical cliffs (usually about 200-250 feet or so high) that offer rock climbers some of the purest and best crack climbing anywhere in the world. But no climber is going to seek out the Moenkopi Formation for climbing. Yikes! The best crack climbing on Wingate sandstone is in Canyonlands N.P.
The light, buff colored domes that give the Capitol Reef N.P. its name are Navajo sandstone, the same formation that dominates in Zion N.P.
Miles from the the main tourist area of Capitol Reef in what is called Cathedral Valley, accessible by long dirt roads, there are spectacular towers formed by Entrada sandstone, which is above the Navajo and doesn’t appear in the central part of the park.
I encourage anyone who is still young and healthy to try to make time now to see parks like Capitol Reef. If possible, don’t wait for retirement when age and declining conditioning will make hiking strenuous trails difficult to impossible. The best of the great parks in the West are seen on foot away from the roads, visitor centers, and cars. Capitol Reef does offer some excellent, easy hiking on flat ground. For example, Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash are both relatively short and easy hiking. Depending on the time of year the threat of thunderstorms and flash flooding will be a consideration.And unless you’re there in the winter, there are likely to be lots of people.
Capitol Reef is far less well known that Zion and Bryce, but it is truly a wonderful park, more than worth the effort it takes to get there. Sadly, crowds and reservations have become increasingly common in major parks, but one way to avoid those problems is to try to see them in the off-season, especially in winter. Winter camping is fun. I promise. (Name and address withheld for personal safety reasons.)
TriassicSands
@Hawthorne Bridge:
Years ago, I spent a lot of time out in Cathedral Valley, the South Desert, etc. It’s been years since I’ve been there, but unless they’ve done some major road work, it is accessible by long dirt roads that can become inaccessible after any significant rain.
One way to get out there was to ford the Fremont River — high clearance, 4WD — while the other passes through a section of bentonite hills. Bentonite is expansive clay that is slicker than ice when wet and even 4WD can’t overcome minor inclines when the clay is wet. It’s very strange to be on an incline of only a few degrees and be sliding sideways, out of control.As I said, it’s been years since I’ve been there, but when I was, there were never many, if any, other people out there. Of course, I always avoided peak tourist season. Today, there are so many more people, that I wouldn’t expect to be alone out there like I was in the past. The scenery is magnificent — the South Desert Overlook is breathtaking in the right light. The Towers of the Sun and Moon are impressive and beautiful.
Most people only see a very limited area located near the main paved road that runs through the park.
eclare
Beautiful photos! So much to see out west.
Chris T.
There are (or were) a few places to stay in Torrey that are usually not all booked up.
Capitol Reef is actually not outrageously far away from SLC airport (about 4 hours driving, if I remember right).
Chris T.
@TriassicSands:
Also used to make kitty litter!
Mike G
Capital Reef is fantastic. The drive on Utah 12 from there to Bryce Canyon through Grand Escalante is one of my favorite non-coastal drives ever.
It also has some of the darkest skies in the lower 48. I drove out to a lookout at night and found a friendly group of astronomers who let me look through their telescopes.
frosty
@Mike G: Utah 12 is a famous scenic drive. However, there was plenty of advice on the RV forums that it was a white-knuckler towing a trailer. We took a different route.