Tag: travelfamily
Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef National Park

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Hey Guys!! We are now on our second stop in Utah as we make our way across southern Utah to visit the Big Five along with as many National Monuments and State Parks as we can fit in. We thought that there would be less to do in the Torrey, UT area…but, well…we were wrong. We were just as busy!! Guys, we might need a vacation from our National Park Tour.

When we first got to Capitol Reef NP, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. The thing that stuck out the most to me was the main highway that went right through a portion of the park. Now, we’ve been in other parks with highways and paved roads…most have them…but for some reason, this particular setup just didn’t do it for me.

Until I spent some time in the park.

The huge domes, towering cliffs, arches, bridges, and amazing stone rock formations transport you to another world. And Guys, the way the light plays on the rocks and makes them change colors throughout the day… I totally fell in love with this park.

Never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine I would see a caution radiation sign in a National Park. And…the radiation area is a protected bat habitat?? Um…what?

The yellow tint in the sandstone rock is actually trace amounts of uranium. In the early 1900s uranium was a hot commodity due to the idea that it had health benefits. People would wear rocks laced with uranium around their necks or crush it up and drink it in water. Then in the 1950s the government was on a search for uranium to help protect the country. Ultimately, the amount of uranium found in the Captiol Reef NP area was so scant that the area was abandoned for uranium production. The mines are still there though and apparently, bats like to roost in them…so if you see little glowy lights flying around at night…it’s probably just the bats.

The first thing we did was the eight mile Scenic Drive that takes you back into a small portion of the park. It’s a great introduction to the park and what this park is protecting. The Scenic Drive is a small portion of an original route once used by the Ancient people we now refer to as the Fremont. When settlers came to the area in the 1880s the route was turned into a wagon road.

The backbone of Capitol Reef National Park is a 100 mile long waterpocket fold. A what? A waterpocket fold is basically a huge wrinkle in the earth’s crust formed by a monocline. Early settlers described it as an “impassable reef” of rock. Until 1962, when Highway 24 was completed, the only way through this section of the Waterpocket Fold was the original road that was prone to flash floods. We actually witnessed a flash flood while were on part of the original road. We found high-ish ground with our 4Runner and waited it out. Some people had to abandon their vehicles in the flow of water and just hope it didn’t rise too much more. The flash flood came on quick and left just as quickly leaving a muddy wet mess behind. no one was hurt and all humans/vehicles were able to get out mostly unscathed.

They call it The Pioneer Register, but really it’s just old graffiti. And, you’re not supposed to add to it. Ha! The Pioneer Register is located along a stretch of the original road through the Waterpocket Fold. For some reason, early travelers started leaving their mark on the steep sandstone walls. We saw everything from fancy script to names being shot into the wall with a gun.

On the same hike as the Pioneer Register, you’ll find The Tanks. You can climb up the cliff and see some depressions in the rock that collect water when it rains. When we went, the “tanks” were pretty dry, but the view from the top of the cliff was pretty cool! And the boys (all four) had a great time being mountain goats as they criss-crossed around the cliff trails.

There are also several places where you can find even older graffiti left by the Fremont people who were some of the very first people to settle in the area (from 600-1300 CE). They didn’t have a form of writing other than the petroglyphs found along the canyon walls so we don’t know much about them. We know they did a bit of farming and that they used the atlatl to hunt with. We think they had camps along the Fremont River.

One of the hikes we did while in Capitol Reef NP was the Chimney Rock Loop. The trailhead is right off that highway I told you runs through the park and every time we passed it, the parking lot was full so we knew it must be a good one. This trail has an elevation gain of 590 ft, all at the beginning of the hike during the first half mile or so. After that, it was cake. And the views…

The Hickman Bridge trial was another one that had some amazing views. This was a relatively short trail to a 133 foot natural bridge. Hickman Bridge is one of the pictures you’ll find on a lot of the Capitol Reef NP souvenirs like stickers, postcards, and pins. We did each of these hikes late in the afternoon and the crowds were minimal.

We never saw any glowing bats… but we did see tons of these little squirrels and lizards while we were there. The squirrels were pretty used to seeing people and I think they’ve been fed a few times. Please keep wildlife wild. Even the squirrels. You really are doing them a disservice by making them dependent on humans and handouts. And honestly, human food isn’t good for them.

There are a couple of longer scenic drives you can do that wind their way in and out of the Capitol Reef National Park boundaries. We did the entire Cathedral Loop drive and Guys, it was totally awesome! We spent an entire Saturday doing this drive. We stopped by the visitor center and picked up the Cathedral Loop driving guide. It totally made the drive. Seriously. It had info on all the stops and the little side roads that we would have driven right by had we not known what was down them. That little guide was totally worth the $3 we paid for it and more.

The Cathedral Loop starts out at the visitor center then takes you down the main highway. There are a few stops along the highway that talk about the early Mormon settlers that came to the area back in the late 1800s. It’s not long before the scenic loop has you turning off of the nicely paved highway onto a dirt road where you have to ford the Fremont river! This was our first river fording and it was both exciting and terrifying all at once.

Once upon a time… this land was used for ranching and the ranchers brought out a drilling truck to find water for all of their cattle. I’m not sure why the ranchers left the drilling truck, but it looks neat. The well is still active so there’s an artificial oasis way out in the middle of the desert. We got out and looked around on the way through. The truck really does look cool the way it’s partially buried.

These bentonite hills are sooo my color. Bentonite is actually a clay that is full of volcanic ash. When it gets wet, it’s super slick and sticky. How can it be slick and sticky at the same time? Magic. That’s the only explanation I have. See that left picture? It kind of looks like popcorn, right? Bentonite clay gets a popcorn like surface from repeated cycles of absorbing rain then drying again. We thought these bentonite hills were super neat!

One of our favorite things about the Cathedral Loop is that it has small hikes spaced throughout. It was nice to get out of the car and stretch our legs…and to stop bumping down the dirt road every so often.

We learned sooo much on this drive. The booklet we picked up at the visitor center is jam packed with geology facts, history, and even a bit of ecology. I’m not going to go through each stop and lesson we learned. Y’all can go do the loop yourself for that! Ha! But, I will share some of our favorite pictures and some little tidbits too. Like…in the top picture in the gallery above…the valley extends twenty miles! This view was unreal. We felt like we were looking at a movie set. The picture doesn’t do it justice at all.

Welcome to Cathedral Valley. In 1945, the first superintendent of Capitol Reef, Charles Kelly, and Frank Beckwith, a newspaper owner, gave this valley the name of Cathedral Valley because the rock formations reminded them of Gothic architecture.

Alex is taking an earth science class this year. He was pretty stoked to get the chance to see volcanic sills and dikes in person! What am I talking about? Well, a long long time ago…around three to six million years ago…molten magma pushed its way up through cracks in the earth’s surface. The magma cooled and solidified and turned into vertical walls (dikes) and horizontal layers (sills). You can see some awesome vertical walls (dikes) in the two pics above.

On the right you’ll see a two hundred foot gypsum sinkhole. It was impressive! Now, on the top, you will see the boys standing in front of Glass Mountain…which isn’t made of glass at all. It’s actually made of selenite crystals also known as moonstone which is a crystalline form of gypsum. They think that the sinkhole used to look like Glass Mountain. It’s weird to think that one day, Glass Mountain could be gone and replaced with a huge sinkhole.

Guys, you really need to get out there and see these places. At this stop along the loop, we got to see the Temples of the Sun and Moon up close. Made of soft Entrada Sandstone…these giant monoliths are literally melting every time it rains. In the picture on the right…you can see the texture of these monoliths. It looks like flowing mud…because when it’s wet, it basically is. Many of the cool rock formations within this amazing National Park are melting away…they’re eroding at relatively rapid rates.

“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread…” ~Edward Abbey

Go out and explore the wilderness while it’s still around to explore.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Arches and Canyons

Arches and Canyons

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Hey Guys!! We made it to Utah!! We loved Colorado quite a bit and we’re totally going to miss it, but we were ready to adventure into a different state…at least for a little while.

Y’all know we’re on a National Park Tour so it shouldn’t be a surprise that our first stop in Moab was Arches National Park. We stayed pretty close to Arches, so we were in and out of the park on a fairly consistent basis during our two weeks in the area. We would head there in the late afternoons to get some hiking in and it worked out pretty well because most other explorers were headed out about that same time which meant…fewer people in the park.

Arches National Park is home to over two thousand natural arches made out of sandstone. There are several arches you can see right from the paved road that winds its way through the park. But, if you want to really experience an arch…you’ll need to get out of your car and get some sand under your feet. To photograph an arch, you’ll want a little distance so you can get the whole arch in the shot, but to get a good feel for how big some of these arches are, you’ll need to get up close to one. This can be easier said than done on most days in the park. Arches NP is super crowded with tons of other people trying to get “the view” of that same arch you’re trying so hard to get “that shot” of. It can be frustrating. We try to avoid going into a busy NP during the weekend or over a holiday. We had better luck with crowds by going during odd times…usually later in the afternoon/evening throughout the week when most people were leaving.

Arches are the main attraction at this National Park, but they aren’t the only attraction. There are also towering sandstone spires, pinnacles, fins, and balanced rocks. Some formations look like elephants! To get to Sandstone Arch, you have to hike between two sandstone fins! It was a really short and neat hike.

It takes a lot to make an arch. You have to have the right kind of rock and it has to be exposed to just the right combination of environmental factors…and time…lots and lots of time. In order to be considered an “official arch”… there has to be at least three feet of space within the opening of the arch. Becoming an arch is no easy task.

If you’ve ever seen a postcard or a sticker or sign for Arches National Park, chances are…you’ve seen Delicate Arch. Delicate Arch is the poster arch for all arches at Arches National Park. It’s the arch that all of the other arches want to be. It’s a stand-alone, complete arch with an awesome view. There are two ways to see Delicate Arch. You can go to one of two viewpoints or you can go to the trail-head and hike the mile and half up, up and up to get to the actual arch. We did both. We stopped by the viewpoints first, but when we saw how far away we still were…we went back on a different day to hike up to Delicate Arch. I’m so glad we hiked it…the view from the top is spectacular and while there was quite a lot of up to this hike, it wasn’t too horrible.

Our favorite hikes at Arches National Park was the Devils Garden. There are several different trails and arches you can get to within the Devils Garden. We did the four mile Double O Arch Trail and it was awesome! When you first start this trail the crowd can be a bit thick, but once you get to the good stuff…the part where you climb up the back of one of the fins…the crowd starts to thin. And then when you walk across the back of a different fin…Guys…the views. I caught the boys with their mouths hanging open and their cameras out trying to capture the amazingness of this hike. I know, I know, some of you don’t think amazingness is a real word…and if it’s not…well, it should be. It. Should. Be.

We timed our Double O Arch hike just right. We got there ogled all of the views, shimmied down the back of the fin and made it to the trail-head right as the light show started during that evening’s sunset. We stopped the car several times so we could all sit and watch the sunset. Mother Nature was not playing around that night…no…she was showing us some of her best stuff. She always wins. Always.

We only spent a day at Canyonlands National Park. We were a little farther away from it and there was so much to see and do in the area that we didn’t want to take the time to drive all the way back. We only had time to visit one of the three sections of Canyonlands NP. We spent time in the Island in the Sky section. We’ve already discussed the need to go back and see more of this park. It is, after all, the biggest national park in Utah and that is saying something.

We did the scenic drive, stopped at all the stops, and got in a couple of short hikes, but we were really wanting to drive down into the canyon and then find our way over to Potash road where we could drive back to Moab…on a dirt road…following the Colorado River for most of it. Y’all know how we are about dirt roads. Ha! Canyonlands National Park has a canyon within a canyon within a canyon. I’m not even joking. There are three layers of canyons at work in the picture above!

We seem to always find ourselves on a dirt road. What is it about dirt roads that we love so much? Well, they usually take us to some pretty dang awesome places and…not many people are equipped to drive them so the crowds tend to thin out a bit. We drove down out of Canyonlands on Shafer Trail then made our way over to Potash Road and back to Moab. Potash Road is one of our absolute favorite dirt roads in the Moab area. The views along this drive are breathtaking as it follows the Colorado River for several miles.

Well, Guys…I think I’m going to pause here for now and pick up with some more of our Moab adventures next time!! We crammed so much into these two weeks…So, stay tuned!!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour