Friday, April 18, 2008--Capitol Reef National Park

As some of you may have noticed, we haven't posted in a timely manner the last few days. The area near Capitol Reef National Monument is remote--no cell phone signal, no internet signal, and only one radio station!

Friday morning we awoke to claim our spot at Capitol Reef! We left Torrey at 7:20 a.m. in the CRV and drove the 11 miles to Fruita Campground. We sat at the entrance until people started moving out--it only took a few minutes. We scoped out the empty sites, picked the one we thought we could fit in, put our tag on the post, unloaded the kayaks at the site and went back to Torrey for the rv! We took long hot showers and emptied our tanks before heading back to the campground.

We pulled into the campground and Joyce was guiding Bob into the site when we had our first mishap of the trip. Joyce was watching the top of the rv on the driver's side to make sure it would fit under the cottonwood tree when EEEEEEEERK! The top of the ladder that sticks up 12 inches caught the tree on the other side! The top of the ladder on the right is no longer there. The roof of the rv was not damaged--whew!

Capitol Reef has sandstone cliffs of bright red. Toward the bottom of the cliffs it looks like sand dunes. It is an awesome place! When Fruita was settled in the late 1880s, the settlers planted fruit orchards. The trees are still in place. When they bear fruit, visitors to Capitol Reef may pick what they want for a fee or eat what they want in the orchards for free. Right now the trees are blossoming.

After setting up, we went for a hike on the Fremont River Trail. The trail wends its way beside the fruit orchards until it reaches the foot of the mountain.

Once we got to the foot of the mountain, we began the upward climb. The trail followed the contour of the sandstone all the way to the top.

We stopped halfway to get a picture on a rock overhang.
As we made it to the top, Joyce was dawdling looking at the wildflowers blooming in the crevices. All of a sudden in this sea of red sandstone, there were volcanic rocks!

The round black rocks are volcanic rocks. They seem out of place amid all the red and yellow sandstone.

From the overlook when you looked east, you saw a tall sandstone cliff.

When we looked to the north, we could see the campground through the orchards.

Looking down toward the campground we saw the water treatment facility for the area.

Looking to the west we saw more sandstone cliffs with the Dixie National Forest in the background. There is snow atop the ridges in the forest!

Looking down and to the south we saw more volcanic rocks and red sandstone.We made our way down the mountain and back to the rv to plan the rest of our day.

We decided to walk to the visitor center after lunch. There is a mile footpath going from the campground. It passes the Gifford house, the stables, the blacksmith shop and a picnic area. The Gifford house is a museum to the first Mormon settlers and it also has a store stocked with home baked pies and scones.

There are three horses in the field between Gifford house and the campground.

At the blacksmith shop we saw an original tractor--instead of a steering wheel, it had reins!

We continued on to the visitor center and the museum dedicated to the Native Americans who once inhabited the area. They drew petroglyphs on some of the sandstone walls. Their petroglyphs seemed to be more detailed than others we have seen. The museum also explains the geology of the park.

As we walked back to the campground, we stopped by the orchards near the picnic area.

Depending on the type of tree, some are in full bloom and others are just starting to bud. There are apple, pear, peach, quince, plum, and apricot trees in the orchards.

On returning to our site, we sat out and watched all the people. We noticed that the campground was full by 1:00 p.m. This may be the least visited national park in the area, but it seems pretty popular for this time of year.