Bonus Chapter 2: Long Walks In The Middle Of Nowhere
When you’ve finally ditched the kids and get some long-awaited alone time with your significant other, what’s the first thing you do? Well, you fly somewhere, rent a car, and then drive 5 hours into the wilderness, of course. But then, after a good night’s sleep, what’s the second thing you do? Sleep in? Relax in the hot tub? Settle in by the pool with a good book?
Of course not! You wake up early and set off for some long hikes in the middle of nowhere. Duh.
Julie and I grabbed breakfast at the hotel and then set off around 7:15 a.m. It helped to still be somewhat on East Coast time. Just a couple of miles down the road from our hotel was
Capitol Reef National Park.
Capitol Reef is one of five national parks in the state of Utah (the others being Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, and Zion) and was the only one Julie and I hadn’t seen. Exploring this park was our first piece of unfinished business. We started early because a) Rope Drop always works to beat crowds, and b) summer temperatures in Utah will commonly reach the 90’s or even 100 degrees F, so it’s a good idea to get your hiking done before the hottest part of the day. Thankfully, the highs here were only supposed to be in the mid-80’s that day.
Capitol Reef gets its title from a large formation of red rock—a wall that has been formed as a “fold”, or wrinkle in the earth’s crust. This fold happens to extend for 87 miles deep in the heart of Utah. Settlers gave it the name “Capitol Reef”—the wall of rock acts as a reef, or barrier, and a formation on the southern end resembled the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Geologists refer to the formation as the “Waterpocket Fold”—the fold referring to the wrinkle in the earth’s crust and Waterpocket referring to small sinks and depressions in the surface of the rock that collect water whenever it rains. All of this basically serves to give two completely different names to the same geological formation. For our purposes, it’s a big wall of red rock that has been carved over the eons to give us lots of formations and canyons to explore.
Our first stop was just a few miles into the park at a turnout and small parking area on the side of the main road. From a viewing area, we could see petroglyphs carved into the rock wall by some of the earliest inhabitants of the region.
I still believe preserving these petroglyphs is hypocritical. I mean, it's nothing but ancient graffiti, right? And they're stick figures! I could do that. But if I start drawing on the canyon walls, I'll get arrested and fined. Clearly a double standard.
We moved down the road another mile or two and parked at a trailhead. The trail actually served a couple of different routes. Day-hikers could climb all the way up the mountain to a couple of different overlooks. We opted for the shorter trail (just under a mile) to Hickman Bridge.
Follow this link for a map showing the various hiking trails in the area. We hiked a couple more of these later in the day (spoiler alert).
Temps had dropped into the 50’s at night, so I actually had a sweatshirt on when I started the hike. It didn’t last long once I got into the sunlight.
The trail was a steep climb at the beginning, but once we crested a ridge it leveled out a bit, alternating between climbs and drops. We rounded a final turn and got our first view of the Hickman Bridge formation.
Hmm. That’s a little hard to see. Let’s get a bit closer.
Then we’ll put some ugly guy in the photo for scale.
You know what would be better? A hot model.
One of the coolest aspects of the hike was that the trail took us under the arch. Or at least, it was supposed to according to the map. The trail kind of disappeared once we made our way there, so we ended up making our way through it Indiana Jones-style. Julie only tried to push me off the edge once or twice, so she was on her best behavior.
The view on the other side was nice. Red Rock Country is just gorgeous.
On the way back to the car, we found this sign on the trail that I’d somehow failed to notice on the climb up. It is a little suspicious that Julie didn’t mention it to me when I paused along the way.
We drove to the east park boundary and then turned around, stopping at the east trailhead for the Grand Wash trail. This trail is a canyon (or “wash”) that cuts through the fold. Hiking here is not recommended during storms because—well, water flows downhill. And this is where it all goes when it rains. Luckily for us, it was bright and sunny that day.
This trail is nice and easy—basically flat. You get to walk right up to some sheer canyon walls along the way.
The coolest part of the trail involves a section called “The Narrows”, where the walls get pretty tight on either side of the path as it twists through the rock.
After this part, the trail widens again until you eventually reach a parking lot on the west side. We didn’t go all the way—we turned around and headed back to collect our car, seeing as the car didn’t actually belong to us. Rental companies tend to look down on people abandoning their property.
Two hikes down, and it was still only mid-morning. We drove to the visitor center to check out the exhibits and stamp our National Park passport. Then we got back in the car and turned to the south along the park’s scenic drive—which lived up to its name.
This was a formation called the Egyptian Temple. I don’t have my notes in front of me, but I’m going to assume that’s because it resembles an Egyptian Temple. I mean, as far as I know. I’ve never been to Egypt.
We made it to the end of the road, where it turns to dirt and you can drive along Capitol Gorge. It was here that we turned around, but not before a photo shoot to prove we were there.
Julie thought these formations looked like fossilized pasta.
The abandoned town of Fruita is the hub for the park, where the visitor center is located. Settlers didn’t reach the area until 1872 and didn’t try to make a go of it here until 1879. The population never exceeded ten families. They built orchards as an attempt to become self-sufficient. But despite struggling along for several decades, the town never really grew, and eventually the National Park Service bought all of the land in order to make it part of the park. The orchards survived, however, and guests are invited to pick fruit and enjoy it on property as they please (if you want to take some home, there’s a small fee).
We drove back west, making one more stop in the park—a third and final hike to Sunset Point. As you may have deduced, this is a viewpoint that gives visitors spectacular views of the Waterpocket Fold during sunset. Naturally, we visited right around noon.
Oh, well. The views are still beautiful.
I tried to get Julie to help me pull off one of my patented Dad Joke photos, but she didn’t want anything to do with it, citing such irrational fears as the “700-ft. plunge to my death”. What a spoil-sport. Anyway, it didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped.
With that, we were finished with Capitol Reef, and had checked the final box for National Parks in the state of Utah. These five parks have a deserving reputation as show-stoppers—there’s not a bland one in the group. I think Julie and I would both list Utah among our favorite states in the U.S. just because these parks are so spectacular.
We stopped at
Slacker’s Burger Joint in Torrey for lunch, and enjoyed it for the simple reason that it didn’t serve peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. As a bonus, they gave us helpful instructions on using the toilet.
We filled up with gas at the only station in town, perfectly positioned to gouge tourists. Then we headed south on Rt. 12 for a 2-hour drive. Rt. 12 turned out to be one of the more beautiful drives we’ve ever taken. After climbing the mountains, we stopped at the Larb Hollow Overlook, which afforded a great panorama of Capitol Reef and the La Sal Mountains, 110 miles away to the east.
We then entered the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which gave us more views of spectacular red rock country.
I think it’s safe to say that the views don’t really get old here. And they were about to get even better.
Coming Up Next: Re-visiting an old favorite.
Much better
That's what I usually do, and plan to a week from today!
sooooo what is a mom to do after drinking the tons of water they keep telling you to drink when you are out there hiking miles and miles in 100 degree blaring sun?? Yes, these are the things I think about when planning a potential vacation. 
I had a good amount of time in Miami from late November - May without any issue.....and have not been bit again since.
