CAPITOL REEF
While we visited Utah on our first ever National Park adventure together in the Spring of 2017, we skipped over the beauty and the wonder of Capitol Reef. Part of it was a crunch for time and part of it was an in hindsight terrible recommendation by a guidebook that stated “if you have to miss one National Park in Utah, miss Capitol Reef.” WRONG. Capitol Reef is such an incredible National Park, we really wish that we had more time to explore it on the trip we took there in the Spring of 2019.
Driving in from Montrose, Colorado, we arrived in the park early and hit the ground running. After an informative stop at the Visitors Center in the Fruita Section of the park, we drove to the Grand Wash, parked, geared up, and hit the trails. Hiking first to Cassidy Arch, we got an amazing dose of red rock wonderland and clearly marked trails that fed our souls. After gawking at the beauty that is Cassidy Arch and its surrounding environs, we continued on by first doubling back to a juncture that would take us to the Frying Pan Trail.
It was here that we got to hike along with a wonderful fellow hiker and frequent visitor to Capitol Reef. After navigating the twists and turns of the giant rock gardens of the Frying Pan Trial, we ended our time together at Cohab Canyon. We departed for the park road, I-24, which would eventually take us back to the Grand Wash where we started. While we thought that we might be able to hitchhike our way to the Northern end of the Grand Wash trail, cutting our time, unfortunately no one stopped, and a lovely flat walk along the road is what we got instead.
After hiking the beautiful and vast Grand Wash, we made our way back to our car, headed to our hotel and then to a restaurant to fuel up, as this day was far from over despite the dying light. After this brief respite, we headed back to the Chimney Rock Trail for an unforgettable golden hour to dark hike before officially calling it a night at our hotel. While we wanted to spend some more time in the park the next day, we had more adventures to attend to in Colorado and had to hit the road very early.
Capitol Reef National Park is on the traditional and stolen land of the Ute and Paiute people.
Listen while you look! These buttons will link you to the podcast episode(s) for this park and gallery.
