Return to Capitol Reef

Jackie had not been yet, so we had to take her.

Capitol Reef was named for a domed rock in the area that reminded early visitors of the American capitol buildings, and "reef" refers to a reef in the ocean, because the formation here creates a barrier to travel.

The geologic name for the formation is the Waterpocket Fold, and it is almost 100 miles long. The only way through, before someone built a highway, was the Capitol Gorge, a narrow canyon that is very prone to flash flooding.

The landscapes are different around every corner, so lots of pictures.

Not all of the rocks look like penises

Petroglyphs!

You see a lot of these door-shaped depressions in cliff faces

Is this the dome that looked like a capitol building? I do not know.

Canyonlands National Park

There are three separate areas to Canyonlands: Island in the Sky, which we visited; the Needles, which is also accessible by car; and the Maze, which is more a place to hike or take off-road vehicles.

The Island in the Sky section is something like Grand Canyon, only not quite so grand of course, but still very impressive. The Green River and the Colorado River converge in the park, and each one has cut deep canyons through the rock over a very long time. Island in the Sky is a plateau between the Colorado River canyons on one side and the Green River canyons on the other.

One little travel tip: If you are at least 62 years old, you can buy a Senior Pass to all national parks for $80, and it lasts the rest of your life. Mine paid for itself on this trip alone.

That is a road you can drive on. We decided not to.

 

There's me!

That is the Colorado River out there

Some of these rocks look untrustworthy

That thin spire on the far left is over 300 feet tall

Sporting my Steve Bannon look, with shades

Arches National Park

People in the picture give some idea of the size

We were going to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks on the same day, but then our car's navigation system sent us in an odd direction, and I took a long walk, and we only made it to Arches. Don't worry, we made it back to Canyonlands, and Jackie made it to Capitol Reef, so now we have both seen all five Utah National Parks.

The car pointed us toward a back road into the park, which seemed like it might be interesting, so we took it. In Utah, "back road" usually means gravel/dirt road, and this was no exception as the pavement lasted about 50 feet, so we drove for miles along a mostly gravel road with interesting views, little traffic, and RV's and trailers that reminded us of Nomadland parked off the road. The entrance to the park was just a sign and more dirt roads.

The car then sent us down a road to the trailhead to Tower Arch, which was odd because the road was a dead end. When we got to the 1.7-mile trail, Jackie suggested that I should take her camera and make the hike, so I did. Dogs cannot go on National Park trails, so Jackie and Arlo stayed at the parking lot while I trekked 3.5 miles back and forth. The hike took more than two hours, so by the time I got back to the car, it was past noon, and we were still barely in the park.

Then the car tried to send us on a road that was only for high-clearance four-wheel drive and off-road vehicles, but we didn't take the bait this time and instead continued on a gravel road that the navigation system did not recognize, and we eventually reached pavement and the main part of the park.

Arches does contain several arches, but also lots of standing rocks, big cliffs and more. Jackie got a lot of great pictures.

Nice shot of the most photogenic member of our group

And here he is again

The "road" into Arches

End of the road to Tower Arch trail. Jackie and Arlo are down there somewhere.

On the trek to Tower Arch

Still on the way

Made it! The Internet says Tower Arch is 43 feet tall, 92 feet wide.

Skyline Arch

One could be forgiven for thinking that Utah is covered with stone penises

The Fiery Furnace, striped red and white stone

One could be forgiven...

At The Windows. Several arches there, including the one at the top of this post.

Signs say this may be a one-time arch that fell long ago

At an area called The Courthouse. I decided that these are the judges.
 

Balanced Rock, the most famous landmark at Arches

Bryce Canyon National Park

I have not visited Canyonlands yet, but based on what I have seen, if you are only going to one Utah National Park, Bryce Canyon is the one you want. The landscapes are amazing, and the park is very accessible without a lot of hiking. There is a main drive that goes north to south through the park, and along that drive are numerous overlooks and parking lots which allow you to see the different areas. A couple of the parking lots were full when we visited, but there were alternative overlooks, and we were able to stop almost everywhere we wanted.

We visited Bryce Canyon in the afternoon, after seeing Zion in the morning. I took one good walk in Bryce, up several hundred feet from a parking lot that was at 8,800 feet elevation itself, to a spot called Inspiration Point. All the walking I have been doing definitely has made it easier to do some hiking - more on that when I post about Arches National Park, which, yeah, I have been to already, and I am behind on my posting, so I need to catch up.

When I posted two weeks ago that we were going to Utah, the picture I included was from Bryce Canyon. I will include our version of that picture among our photos here.

From Sunset Point

There are surprisingly many of these types of rocks in Utah

The most prominent arch in Bryce

Looking one direction from Inspiration Point

On the way up

The other side from Inspiration Point