Capitol Reef National Park and Crazy Weather

 

Capitol Reef National Park

 Arrival at Capitol Reef included, once again, the park entrance sign photo. It can be quite a wait while others pose for their pictures standing on or near the sign. I just want to get into the park and start the adventure!


 

Part of Capitol Reef National Park would be closed the day after we arrived due to road repair, so we drove that area first, as soon as we got in the park. After, once again, taking a photo of the indispensable park sign. So glad we didn't miss the incredible sights in this soon-to-be-inaccessible part of the park!

Isn't this amazing?

 

The Capitol Gorge Trail

We hiked Capitol Gorge the afternoon we arrived. Water from snow melt or rain can rush down the gorge causing flash flooding. Huge boulders are moved down the gorge, and smaller rocks become stuck in pockets in the rock.

 

Hiking Capitol Gorge


The stones in these holes were about 20 ft
above the bottom of the gorge.

 

We met a woman who was photographing a good bit of the canyon. She kindly took our picture on the Capital Gorge Trail.

Massive rocks, tiny people


Eph Hanks Tower guards the entrance to the gorge


After hiking the gorge we got many photos of the gorgeous cliffs, mesas, rock formations and twisty trees along the park road.

 Views from the Park Road

 

I love the different colors in the rock layers at Capitol Reef.

These formations were hundreds of feet high.

The Castle, one of my favorite formations at Capitol Reef

Capitol Dome is made of Navajo Sandstone.
I think it looks like Jabba the Hutt.

The park's name is something of a stumbling block for some people to remember. The name came from two different people groups. "Capitol" for the formation I called Jabba the Hutt, which people felt resembled the dome of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC. Other people felt the cliffs resembled ocean reefs. Hence the name, Capitol Reef. 

After driving through a portion of the park where the scenic drive would be closing the next day, we headed back to the camper. It looked like rain was on its way, and the wind was picking up. Our campsite was on a plateau outside the park, and as I walked Trooper, rain from across the valley, miles away, was carried by the gusting wind and getting me wet. I felt like Jim Cantore reporting from a Florida hurricane. To open the camper door, we had to push it into the wind. If you let go it slammed shut. Soon the rain turned to snow, and it began to collect on the camper windows. 


Later that evening, after dark, the snowstorm became an ice storm. The wind was whipping a canvas awning over our slide-out so badly Dave thought it would tear the fabric. So we pulled in the slide. This also meant less space to heat in the camper, which was a good thing since the temperature was well below freezing. The wind and ice were incredibly noisy, but we managed to get some sleep. 

Snow, ice and wind. Oh my!

 

The next morning I took Trooper out for his morning constitutional and had a hard time opening the camper door, but not because of the wind. The camper was wrapped in a layer of ice! The door was iced shut and the steps were covered in 2 inches of slippery-ness. 

Luckily, Capitol Reef was at a lower elevation, and had not received the extreme storm that occurred on the plateau. We waited for the weather to warm up and then set out for that day's hike to Hickman Bridge, a natural bridge formation.


Hickman Bridge Trail

The trail followed the stream for a short distance. Then went UP! We saw quite a variety of rock formations, including the "Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layer Biscuits" rocks, a blonde tower shown below, Pectol's Pyramid (a rock formation named for a man who championed protecting this area as a national park) and of course Hickman's Natural Bridge.

I was especially interested in wildflowers growing right out of rocks. 

The Fremont River runs through CRNP

Silver Townsedia

Fremont Barberry
This plant only grows in this area.


One of my favorite sights is the
"Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layer Biscuits" rocks.

Pectol's Pyramid

Below Pectol's Pyramid is an area where rock falls
have left behind their own pyramid shape in the cliff.
.

 

This stunning blonde was with us along most of the Hickman Bridge trail.

 

Hickman Natural Bridge is 125 feet tall.

Hickman Natural Bridge with surrounding rocks.

 

 Goosenecks Overlook

One final hike was a short out-and-back to a cliff overlooking the Fremont River. 

Goosenecks Overlook


The probability of more wind was high the next day, so we broke camp before 8:00 am to avoid too much crosswind with the trailer. On to our next adventure!

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