Capitol Reef was our first true Utah experience. It was one of my favorite parks from our whole trip.
To start, our drive in to the park took us down an unpaved road at a high elevation where it had snowed the night before. We went from Nevada desert to snowy Aspens in moments.
When we finally arrived at our primitive campground, we found we were the only ones there. The Cathedral Valley Campground overlooks this:
The reason we were all alone, we discovered the next morning, was that the Cathedral Valley Road, an unpaved road which requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle, was nearly impassable. Because of all the recent rain, the road was muddy and soft. One section of the road was hills of pure bentonite clay which we nearly got stuck in several times. Not only was there no one for 40 miles, we had no cell service - if we had gotten stuck I don't know what we would have done. Needless to say, the campsite was incredible but the drive was dangerous and stressful.
Our car was caked with mud, so once we got a car wash and some breakfast and took some deep breaths, we were off to explore this amazing park!
Here are the hikes we did at Capitol Reef NP:
Hickman Bridge (1.7 miles)
Cohab Canyon (3 miles)
Chimney Rock (3.3 miles)
We also saw petroglyphs, ate apple pie made with fresh fruit from the orchard in the valley, and attended a ranger talk about the geology of the park.
Capitol Reef is one park I would definitely return to - there is so much more to do in the park!
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