Twin Rocks
Chimney Rock
Goosenecks in Sulphur Creek
Capitol Reef itself is a geological oddity, considered an actual "wrinkle on the earth." The park contains the almost 100-mile long Waterpocket Fold that has formed along the Fremont River. The park formed when a buried fault became active and lifted the area into a monocline, which is a step-up of rocks. The west side of the fault was raised more than 7,000 feet higher than the east side. The name for the park comes from the many domes of rock that look like the domes on capitol buildings. The reef part comes from the uplifted rocks and cliffs being like a barrier, like a coral reef is to the bottom of the ocean.
The park contains the small pioneer settlement of Fruita. The area was originally home to Native Americans, who left carvings along the rocks. Mormon pioneers then settled the area in the 1800s, building a small settlement that was a perfect place for a fruit orchard. Originally called Junction, the settlement was later called Fruita because of the many orchards which were planted along the Fremont River. The park still operates the orchards today and picking of the fruit is free to the public. You can eat whatever you want while in the park and there is a small fee to take a basket of fruit with you when you leave. They have all kinds of fruit trees, from apples and peaches to plums and pears. The also have a host of walnut and almond trees.
One of the orchards
We stopped by one of the orchards, then went through the parts of the settlement still remaining. We then hit up the Gifford House, which is the old home of some of the early settlers and tenders of the orchards. The house is now a bakery and gift shop, baking pies made from the fruit grown in the park's orchards. Of course we had to buy a small pie and it was delicious!
After filling our bellies, we ventured south on the Scenic Drive. Much of the park is only accessible with 4-wheel drive and high-clearance vehicles, so we knew we couldn't see it all. Our plan was to go as far south as we could go in our car, then work our way back out.
On the Scenic Drive
We saw this rock as we drove by and it looked like a huge alligator mouth so we stopped and hiked over for a closer look.
Dirt road at the end of the Scenic Drive to get to the hiking trails in Capitol Gorge
We started with a hike in Capitol Gorge to see some petroglyphs and another pioneer registry in a slot canyon.
Starting out hike into the slot canyon
The first petroglyph we came to
A list of names high up on the canyon wall, part of the pioneer registry carved in the 1800s and 1900s. These names were dated 1911.
Chiseled names were popular here as well
The trail continued out of the slot canyon up the rocky hills to an area known as The Tanks. Here several depressions in the rocks hold water in small pools at the base of two giant domes of rock. We saw lizards and frogs all around the water holes and plenty of other creatures and plants not seen in other parts of the park. Roundtrip the hike was just 2.8 miles, but still very fun. The canyon portion was very easy and completely flat, but the turn to The Tanks was a lot of climbing and scrambling over rocks for 0.4 miles each way.
The domes of rock behind The Tanks
One of many water holes in the rocks called Tanks
Tadpoles in the water
We then drove back out along the Scenic Road and hit up one of the apple orchards. The orchards were full of deer and they would almost let you walk right up to them. Some of the apples were ready to be picked. The park provided ladders and picking poles so you could easily reach high into the trees for the best apples. We found two different kinds and they were delicious.
More from the Scenic Drive
These rocks looked like layers of cake.
Deer just outside the apple orchard
Tree full of apples
Sampling the apple crop
Shannon going for one high in the tree
Got it!
Our last stop for the day was on the way out of the park on Hwy 24, where we stopped at the Petroglyph Panel. It is another area where the Native Americans carved images and symbols along the cliff wall. Only about half of them remain after a portion of the cliff wall crumbled off several years ago.
Petroglyphs along the bottom of the canyon wall. You can also see where the cliff wall fell off and took away some of the petroglyphs.
Animal carvings
We left late in the afternoon and began our trek further east toward Blanding, which would be our headquarters for the last part of the trip. We passed through Hanksville, made up of a lot of BLM land that is open to dirt bike and mountain bike use. We saw some of the hills used in classic mountain bike videos such as Where the Trail Ends and Counterparts among others. We also made a stop at Wolverton Mill in Hanksville. It was built in the early 1900s by Henry Thatcher Wolverton in the nearby Henry mountains as a mill for gold mining. The mill was airlifted off the mountain where it was located in 1974 and brought to Hanksville so more people could view it. It was a nice stop just before dark.
Wolverton Mill
Inside the mill
We grabbed dinner at Stan's Burger Shak, a local legend for burgers and milkshakes. It was crowded too and for good reason as the burgers and shakes were awesome. We had hoped ot get to Blanding by dark so we could see the landscape along Hwy 95, but it was full dark just after we left Hanksville. We couldn't see much, but still had a good time driving across the desert under what was nearly a full moon. We had a scary moment when we drove through an entire herd of cattle at 65 mph. The cows were black and I couldn't see them until it was too late to stop so I just let of the gas and did my best to steer through about 30 cows scattered all over the road. I honestly don't know how we go through without hitting one as there didn't appear to be a clear route through them, but we got through. I think I had a little help on that one. I guess that's one of the drawbacks to free range cattle. Maybe they should make the tags in their ears reflective so at least you have a chance to see a bunch of black cows standing on a black road in the dark.
We had a little rental house in Blanding, UT that we booked through Air BNB. It was a nice place, but hard to find as the addresses in Blanding aren't recognized by online maps and GPS devices. We did finally find it after circling the neighborhood a few times. After spending the last five nights in either a tent or a tipi in 35-degrees or less, it was nice to have some heat and a comfy bed.
Our house for the weekend in Blanding
It was a far cry from sleeping in a tipi.
We got in late, but were up early again the next morning as we had another full day of exploring planned including visiting Valley of the Gods and the Navajo Reservation in Monument Valley. More on those in the next post.
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