Capitol Reef National Park - Apr. 18 - 24, 2005


Reader's digest version (longer one is below):

Monday, April 18, 2005: Travel to Capitol Reef, scary drive, and snow.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005: Cold and cloudy, laundry and paperwork day.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005: Lunch in town, Jim and Chris again!

Thursday, April 21, 2005: Good weather, burst faucet, hiking.

Friday, April 22, 2005: Cloudy with a storm brewing.

Saturday, April 23, 2005: 7 mile hike, rain overnight.

Sunday, April 24, 2005: Last day here.

Monday, April 18, 2005

Today we traveled to our next stop, Capitol Reef National Park near Torrey, UT. To get there we decided to continue on SR 12. It was scenic and scary. Our journey included an elevation change of over 5,000 ft. to a high of 9,600 ft. Some parts of the road were narrow and steep with a rock wall close on the right and cliffs on the left. At one point, in an area called "The Hogback", we were riding along a ridge not much wider than the road that dropped 500 feet on either side of us and the winds were gusting (probably not advisable for high-profile vehicles like ours!). We stopped at one pullout (Susan was close to hyperventilating) and had lunch. What a great view.

We ended up at Sand Creek RV Park. It is a small, inexpensive park (only $15/day for full hookups) with only one other rig here. The wind is blowing (of course!) about 20-30 MPH. We got ourselves set up quickly because It looked like we were going to get blasted with snow. A wall of snow did come at us, but didn't stick to anything (too warm).

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Today is laundry and paperwork day. The cold continues as it got down to 30 degrees this morning with the wind chill down into the 'teens. In between the clouds we have gotten glimpses of the surrounding mountains from our trailer. As Bill's mother says this area is "mind boggling". As the sun goes down we found ourselves running around the rig looking out each window to see the view of the changing light on the mountains. Oohs and ahhs, then we rush out into the cold wind to take a few more pictures of the same mountains of which we already have many pictures.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Today the sun was out more, but it was still cool and breezy. We had lunch in town at a place called the Capitol Reef Café. It was pretty nice for such a small town. We drove into Capitol Reef and toured the visitor center. From a brief, narrated slide show we discovered the fascinating way this area was formed. We drove down a 10-mile paved road into the park. At the end of the paved road it continues on a dirt road to the Capitol Gorge. As we were starting our short hike into the gorge we heard someone calling our name. We turned around to see Jim and Chris, the new friends we met in Zion! They had seen our truck and the "CoolJourney" lettering on the back and knew it we were there. What fun! We chatted for a while and wished each other well for our respective journeys.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

The weather gods smiled upon us today. The skies were clear and daytime temperatures were very comfortable. I say daytime, because overnight it got down to 24 degrees. We turned on the water in the morning and guess what, nothing! Reminded us of our stay in Verdi in December. However, we were smug in knowing that we could handle this sort of thing. Just wait until the outside faucet warmed up. Until then we could use water in the rig's tanks. As we were catching up on our email we noticed an odd sight - a geyser of water outside our window. Apparently, the plastic "Y" faucet connector we use gave up the ghost due to expanding water (ice). Mental note: Get a metal connector next time!

Once the outside temperatures warmed up, we headed to Capitol Reef National Park to tour the Gifford Homestead and do some hiking. Calvin Pendleton, a polygamist, first built what is now called the Gifford Homestead in 1908. He and his family occupied it for eight years. Two other Mormon families (the last being the Giffords) lived in the homestead until 1969, when it was sold to the National Park Service. Nothing about the house or story is amazing, but it was interesting to see how folks pioneered the area and how they lived. It is a beautiful area with many fruit trees (cherry, peach, and apples). The fruit trees are still producing and the National Park Service encourages visitors to pick the fruit when it is in season. Go to the picture section to see the house and setting.

After the homestead tour it was off to hike the "Reef". We chose the "Hickman Bridge" trail, which is a moderately difficult hike (steady uphill climb) with great views. The hike takes you to a natural bridge that is 133 ft wide and 125 ft. high. It was a popular hike and a number of families were enjoying it. That was nice to see too.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Not much to say about today. The skies are overcast with a storm brewing over the next few days. We are not alone in the cloudiness, as it appears the cloud cover stretches from southern Baja all the way up here. Darn!

Saturday, April 23, 2005

We took a 7-mile hike today on the Velvet Ridge Trail. We started out on our walk and about 1 mile beyond the trailhead we encountered a Jeep coming down the road. The woman who was driving stopped. She indicated she was from the area and asked if we had hiked the trail before. She said others had gotten lost for hours on the trail due to all of the alternative routes (unmarked as to which way you should go). She offered and we accepted a ride back to our truck and we went back to the trailer to get our GPS. We drove back and went on the hike. While I am not sure if we would have gotten lost, the GPS provided peace of mind. Overnight the rains came, steadily most of the night.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Today is our last full day in this area. We are ready to move on!