THE STORY OF WATER AT CAPITOL REEF

Carol writes:  In the past few weeks, we have met many Americans and several Europeans who have told us they are “doing the MIGHTY 5.”  The MIGHTY 5 refers to the ultimate vacation road trip to southern Utah’s five most popular national parks:  Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion.

We did not plan to visit all five parks but instead decided to limit our journey to the two we have explored the least—Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef.  

After two weeks at Bryce Canyon, we turned north and made our next “home” at a small family-run campground in Torrey, Utah, just on the doorstep of Capitol Reef.  Seeing the Wonderland RV Park trees in full bloom in mid-May reminded me of the old saying: “No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.”  The weather of the coming week would test that wisdom…

Capitol Reef National Park is located in Utah’s south-central desert.  A geologic wrinkle in the earth’s crust called the Waterpocket Fold traverses the park for 100 miles north to south. Here, geologic forces shaped, lifted, and folded the earth on the Colorado Plateau, creating the wonderfully rugged American treasure known as Capitol Reef.  The park derived its name from the giant rock formations that early visitors thought resembled the US Capitol building,

and from the sheer cliffs that presented a formidable barrier to travel, much like a barrier reef in an ocean.

The geologic story at Capitol Reef was one whose headline would simply read: “WATER.”  The sequence of events required three steps:  deposition, uplift, and erosion.  

During a wet environment period that lasted over a period of 200 million years, sediments were deposited in a massive lake system that existed over the four corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.  This was followed by a period of tectonic plate movement which created uplift of approximately 2 miles, thus forming the Colorado Plateau.  Over the next 20 million years, the erosive forces of water and gravity worked on these sediments of the past and created the serpentine canyons, soaring monoliths, and massive domes of Capitol Reef.

The Mormon pioneer saga was a big part of human history at Capitol Reef.  The park service has nicely preserved the tiny Mormon frontier town of Fruita, which was established in the 1880s at the confluence of the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek.  Here, Mormon settlers farmed the fertile land that was adjacent to the river.  Approximately 3000 fruit trees that were part of the historic orchards planted by these early settlers have been preserved and maintained by the park service.  Oh, how neat it would be to visit when the fruit is ready to pick…

Erratic spring weather played havoc with our visit at Capitol Reef.  We experienced few sunny days and had lots of rain, snow and sleet across the pastoral setting outside our front windshield.

At the first bit of sun, we grabbed the opportunity to explore Capitol Gorge Wash, a popular hike through a narrows used by early Mormon pioneers as the main travel corridor through the Waterpocket Fold.

Some spots were just wide enough for a wagon…

At the Pioneer Register in Capitol Gorge Wash, travelers etched their names high above on smooth sections of the canyon wall.

A short side trail led up to the so-called “tanks,” a term for potholes in the bedrock that have been filled with rainwater and snowmelt.  Not a bad place for lunch and great conversation with other hikers…

At the conclusion of the hike through the wash, afternoon thunderstorms were already starting to build up, which made for a dramatic backdrop with dark clouds towering over red and white sandstone cliffs.

The washes in Capitol Reef appeared to be some of the most popular hikes.  We felt lucky just before we moved on to get a clear morning to hike the Grand Wash.

The “narrows” section really was spectacular.

Blue skies at the start of the hike

turned into threatening clouds at the turnaround.

We heeded warnings to avoid being in the wash during a thunderstorm, in which case the soaring vertical walls would be very unforgiving.

 OTHER HIGHLIGHTS AT CAPITOL REEF

• A very pleasant hike along the Hickman Bridge Trail led to a natural sandstone bridge 125 feet high with a span of 133 feet.  

Without the printed trail guide pointing out a niche high above on the canyon wall, we might have missed a granary that dated back several centuries to the era of the Fremont people (300-1300 AD), the hunter-gatherer ancestors of the modern-day Zuni, Hopi, and Paiute tribes.

• Petroglyphs carved into the canyon wall along the main road through Capitol Reef revealed more evidence of the Fremont Culture.

• The premier jeep trail in Capitol Reef was a 57-mile loop that encircled the northern end of the Waterpocket Fold.

Some of Capitol Reef’s most iconic scenes were on display along this hard-packed dirt and gravel road.  Colorfully striped barren bentonite hills were a strong lure for vibrant shots.

Our destination for the day was Lower Cathedral Valley, one of the park’s most photogenic areas.  This valley was quite aptly named, as many of the freestanding Entrada Sandstone monoliths resembled European gothic cathedrals.

The Temple of the Sun

and the Temple of the Moon

were as impressive as their majestic-sounding names.

Nearby Glass Mountain, an exposed plug of gypsum, was unlike any natural feature we have ever seen before.

The gypsum crystals were quite a curiosity…

A different story played out at the Gypsum Sinkhole where the gypsum mineral dissolved, causing the ground to collapse into a spooky sinkhole.

At the high point on this jeep “loop,” we turned around to head back, but not before taking a few extra moments to marvel at the scenery far below in Cathedral Valley.

Lower Cathedral Valley certainly encapsulated some of the most phenomenal scenery that Capitol Reef National Park had to offer—solitude amid a stark landscape, stunning monoliths, volcanic dikes, and just enough jeep trail ruggedness to evoke an atmosphere of a great adventure.

Carol Galus

Photo-Blogger

THE TOP OF THE GRAND STAIRCASE AT BRYCE CANYON

Carol writes:  Far back into geologic history, the four corners region of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico was covered in water with a system of lakes into which sediments were deposited over countless eons.  Then, twenty million years ago, tectonic plate activity commenced.  This region began to rise and eventually uplifted almost 2 miles to form the Colorado Plateau.

Today, the Colorado Plateau displays a nearly complete sequence of sedimentary rocks that stretch north from the Grand Canyon at the bottom, where the very basement rocks of the continent lie, to Bryce Canyon at the top.  This marvel of the geologic record has very few gaps and is known as the Grand Staircase.

We have spent several weeks at various spectacular “steps” on the Grand Staircase.  For the next two weeks we would linger on the top step at the so-called pink cliffs of Bryce Canyon.

   

Al selected a perfect campground that was very convenient for visiting Bryce Canyon National Park.  Ruby’s RV Park was situated in Bryce Canyon City at the very doorstep of the national park.  Ruby’s was also a stop along the route of a nifty free shuttle bus into the park.  It sure was nice not to have to consider parking issues within the park.

Ruby’s comprised a giant tourist business operation that had it all covered—hotel, cabins, restaurants, a general store, a cowboy dinner show, western adventure activities, and an RV park.  This business venture was started by Reuben Syrett and his wife Minnie 100 years ago.  Ruby’s operation began as tent camps called Tourist Rest for visitors to Bryce Canyon.  Today, Ruby’s ancestors still own the enterprise; they would appear to be the recipients of a very wealthy inheritance…

Bryce Canyon is actually not a canyon but rather a series of amphitheaters composed of whimsical rock formations called hoodoos.

Scottish Mormon pioneer Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area with his wife and family in the latter decades of the 1800s, gave his namesake to the national park that now bears his name.  Ebenezer Bryce once famously said, “It’s a helluva place to lose a horse.”  His words have been immortalized in a cowboy song sung nightly by the Bryce Canyon Wranglers at cowboy dinner shows seen at Ebenezer’s Barn and Grill.

We can personally attest that the Wranglers at Ebenezer’s provided a first-rate country music performance.  The cowboy cuisine was pretty darn good too!  We thoroughly enjoyed our rainy evening at the dinner show at a table with two other couples—one from France and the other from the Netherlands.  Neither European couple seemed quite sure what to expect, and the conversation never lagged…

For our first trip into Bryce Canyon National Park, we decided to walk the rim trail for the most iconic and popular views of the star of the show—Bryce Amphitheater.  The fiery red colors and fairytale hoodoo formations simply awed the sense of sight!

Al and I frequently observed to one another that the park’s decision not to block the rim of the amphitheater with lots of ugly fences meant that “Bryce Canyon has given its visitors a whole lot of ways to screw up.”  We made this same observation at Grand Canyon.  In both parks we saw many a fool taking that must-have camera pic way too close to the edge for safety.  In any case, our personal “6-foot rule” still allowed for spectacular views down into the amphitheater, like this one looking down on the next day’s hike along the “Queen’s Garden Trail.”

We felt the rim trail climb to Inspiration Point well worth it for one of the park’s most inspiring viewpoints.

Lunch in the historic lodge along the rim was relatively inexpensive and quite nice…

Horse jokes aside, the ruggedness of the hoodoo landscape at Bryce Point was also treacherous for unprepared humans, as we discovered shortly after our arrival when a man hiking a Bryce trail, dressed only in shorts and a T-shirt and carrying little water and no food, got lost for 4 days before he was rescued.

The Queen’s Garden Trail led 320 feet down to a hoodoo formation resembling Queen Victoria.

As we descended lower on the trail, the hoodoos were just out of reach.

Hiker doorways that had been cut into the hoodoo formations reminded me of a hobbit house. 

It was uncanny how closely the Queen Victoria hoodoo resembled the queen’s statue in London…

The climb back up did sap a little oxygen from the lungs, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

The 15-mile drive out to the furthest part of the park at Yovimpa Point was definitely worth it for ever more diverse views of Bryce Canyon’s fairytale formations.

At over 9000 feet of elevation, the past winter’s snow had not melted yet.

The views at Rainbow Point,

Ponderosa Point,

Natural Bridge,

and Fairyland Canyon

were further highlights of Bryce Canyon’s poetry in stone.

Besides Bryce Canyon, there were other worthwhile excursions in the area.  Along Scenic Byway 12 in the land of rolling slickrock, buttes, mesas, canyons, and rock walls painted with “desert varnish” was a popular hike called Calf Creek Falls Trail.

This 6-mile roundtrip trail followed a stream to a 126 ft high waterfall that poured dramatically over the canyon wall.

Red pigment pictographs of trapezoidal bodies adorned with elaborate headdresses painted on the rock faces of the canyon,

and very old granaries dating back to the Fremont People, who built into high niches in the canyon wall,

added additional interest to this very pleasant trail.

KODACHROME BASIN STATE PARK

On the way to Kodachrome Basin State Park we took a slight detour to what has been called one of Nature’s “unequalled masterpieces”—Grosvenor Arch.  Indeed, this massive solitary 152 ft tall double arch was one of the most perfect we have seen to date.

Dramatic arch shots with jet contrails were an obvious temptation…

The last few miles on the approach to Kodachrome Basin State Park left little doubt why that name was selected.  In fact, when the park was created, the state had to get permission from the Kodak film company to use Kodachrome as its name.

The most distinctive feature of Kodachrome Basin State Park was a geologic formation called a sand pipe, a structure similar to an upright cylindrical chimney. 

Panorama Trail 

had numerous sand pipe formations.  Some of them, like Ballerina Spire, were quite tall.

Secret Passage detour had more unusual sand pipes,

dramatic pink slickrock,

and irresistible backdrops.

We knew ahead of time that the trail to Shakespeare Arch would be an effort in futility, as a ranger told us when we entered the park that the only natural arch in the park, several million-year-old Shakespeare Arch, had fallen in a wind storm just a few days ago!

Yep, the arch was now rubble at the base…

At an elevation of 9115 ft at Rainbow Point, the most distant point in Bryce Canyon, Al remarked, “It’s all downhill from here.”  I chuckled and agreed.  For the next 5 months or so, we would be heading downhill to our October reunion date in Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean.  What a great downhill ride it would be!   

Carol Galus

Photo-Blogger