Capitol Reef

I have been a little slack on the blog entries this week but it has been kind of a strange week. Travel Monday, travel Tuesday - then snow, wind, and cold interrupted by occasional sun the rest of the week. The image to the left is from the northern portion of Capitol Reef National Park in an area called Cathedral Valley. The Temple of the Sun (and companion Temple of the Moon) were the first encountered along the route I took, Caineville Wash Road, a "high clearance 2-wheel drive" road through some pretty rugged country. We never made it the the main portion of the valley given that it was 18 miles back to the highway and I could see the storm clouds approaching (most of the afternoon was spent inside the trailer watching white stuff fall from the sky). Maybe I'm just a big chicken but there are constant warnings about flash floods in this part of the country, snow was unlikely where we were, I hadn't seen another vehicle the entire time we were out there, we'd crossed several washes on a road with "wash" as part of its name, and there was no cell signal. So I bailed.

Friday morning we took a ride an Utah 12 over Boulder Mountain primarily to see what was in store for us (me, really) towing the trailer today. It really wasn't that bad, 10% grades in a few spots, though nobody told about what lay beyond: a section known as "The Hogback" between Boulder and Escalante with winding 14% grades (downhill for those of us traveling westward) and vertical drops on either side of the highway. Getting back to Capitol Reef, I spent Friday afternoon back there where The Castle is a feature near the park's visitor center.

I find petroglyphs (and pictographs) to be fascinating and these are easily accessible along Utah 24, the highway which passes through the park. The rock art at Capitol Reef is from a group known as the Fremont Culture (or Fremont People) who lived in the area between 1300 and 700 C.E. (or A.D.). Like their contemporaries the Anasazi, they just seemed to disappear around 1300 with no trace.




The visitor center and campground at Capitol Reef are in the historic settlement of Fruita and, while many of the buildings have been demolished, a few remain along with the fruit orchards which gave the town its name (settled in the 1870's, the town was originally known as Junction). One of the buildings which remains is the one-room schoolhouse at the base of a sheer cliff. Built in 1896, it also served as a community center, church, and dance hall.

We are now just outside Bryce and will be moving into the campground at the park in a couple of days. Things aren't quite ready there for us since the snow and cold are running a little long into Spring. As I was setting up our site the welcoming committee included Mountain Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches, and I've seen Mountain Bluebirds, Western Scrub-jays, and a few others. Bryce is remote, a fact I knew coming in, and this afternoon I experienced the 80-mile drive to Cedar City to purchase provisions. You just have to be certain the shopping list is complete. Still, I am looking forward to a great summer here; no matter which direction you travel, the scenery is spectacular and there is no shortage of wildlife.