Capital Reef National Park
Utah National Park
This National Park was totally off our radar. When planning our trip out west we knew we would visit five National Parks. My mom and I both had been to the Grand Canyon. She had visited The Petrified Forest, The Painted Desert, and Bryce Canyon on a trip with my dad 23 years ago. Neither of us had been to Zion. So, for me, I would be able to knock out four National Parks I had never been to before. As we started really planning our trip, I discovered Captial Reef. We knew nothing about it. Neither of us had heard of it, but we were going to be so close we decided to fit a visit in. This would make us six National Parks and five new to me.
Six National Parks in one trip, all of which I mentioned above! I know that is a lot, plus we had other things we were doing as well in 14 days. Pretty darn ambitious right, but by golly we did it. Did we get everything in our trip we wanted…nope. But we got A LOT!
The route we took made this park the last one we visited. First was The Painted Desert and The Petrified Forest. This is where I bought my Annual Season Pass for the National Parks for $80. This covers the vehicle you are in as the pass holder (and those in it). The pass holder does have to be in the vehicle. I did have one ranger check my picture ID to match it. This can be done online ahead of time, but it takes a while to get it and I was worried something could happen and I would not have it in time for our trip. You can purchase at the NP entrance gates as well so that was the option I went with. It was quick and easy to do.
Being from the Foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, a fee is not something we pay to enter our park. But, I totally understand why a fee is needed. I am certainly ok to pay a bit to help preserve our treasures. This trip was planned for May 2023. My husband and I have a trip planned for September 2023 that will also require fees as we head to Yellowstone and a few others in that area. It is a smart move to go ahead and purchase your pass if planning several parks. Most parks seem to be $20 to $35 per personal vehicle. Three visits and your pass has paid for itself, and you begin saving money after that. For the most up-to-date information on this park please visit Capitol Reef National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
As of May 2023, Capital Reef National Park’s fees were $20 for personal vehicles and $15 for motorcycles. With that said, we apparently never even entered the fee area. Some how we were so wrapped up in the beauty around us, we never even noticed another road. Well, evidently there was! But, even missing out on that part, we still feel this was our favorite park be visited and probably the most beautiful. We came from the Bryce Canyon area up Hwy 12 and cut over on Hwy 24 around Torrey, UT. We drove Hwy 24 (Capital Reef Country Scenic Byway) for about 50 miles to Hanksville, UT. This route is open and there is no fee. It travels along the Fremont River and to say it is BREAKTAKING is an absolute understatement. I did not realize until I got home and started researching that we were not in the main area (fee area). After reading, I realize we missed a few things, but we would not be hiking or taking walks, so I feel we were able to get stunning views in the areas we drove.
From the West entrance of the park from Torrey, UT on Hwy 24 this is one of the first views you are greeted with. The classic look of the red Wingate and the white Navajo Sandstone is just majestic. We had been to the Grand Canyon before, and it is stunning when you are on the rims looking down. The vastness of the canyons will take your breath away with its beauty. But there is something about being in the canyons looking up that seems to ground you. For me, it let me know just how truly small I am in this big old world, but at the same time how incredibly important I must be as well. God made this landscape, and he made me (and you). If God can move and change people through this landscape, then certainly he can use us to do the same too!
Before your trip be sure to visit the Travel in USA page and read this article. I read this after we got home and wished I had known about it while there. We missed some great stops because we just did not know. This has some great information to help plan your visit. I mean, there are some cool odd places to stop. Ugh! And we missed them. I am all about quirky and some of them are.
Let’s talk about Geologic features! They are abundant here. Capital Reef is what is called a Waterpocket Fold, creating a warp/wrinkle in the earth’s crust nearly 100 miles long. This area is a monocline, meaning a step up in the rock layers. You will find that erosion has created a cross-section of 19 different rock formations. Some of the amazing things you can find here are the classic elongated strike valleys, dikes and sills (volcanic deposits), gypsum domes, landslide deposits, fossilized oyster reefs, petrified logs, dinosaur bones, and colorful rolling bentonitic hills.
You can easily spot hoodoos, mesas, and black boulders. These crazy-looking rocks below, I just thought were cool and snapped a few pictures. When I started researching this area, I learned these are called Tafonis. This is honeycomb weathering creating a Swiss cheese-looking rock. Who knew?!?! Well, you may have, but I did not! I learned so much on this trip.
December 18, 1971 Capital Reef became a National Park. In 2022 1.2 million folks visited the park making it the 21st most visited US National Park this year. All I know is there are a lot of folks missing out by not going here. Don’t be one of those! Let me say, this is a nice slower pace compared to our national park at home. The Smoky Mountains is the most visited park in the nation and had over 12 million visitors in 2022 (more than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined)!
Capital Reef is one of five national parks in Utah (collectively called Utah’s Mighty 5). It is the fourth most visited national park in Utah’s Mighty 5 (Zion took first place and Canyonlands took 5th place). On this trip, we only got to do Zion, Bryce, and Capital Reef. We just did not have time to get to the others, but I would sure love another trip out sometime. I could honestly see two weeks in this area alone. Hmmm….another bucket list trip maybe???
We took a little side road that takes you to Goosenecks Point and Sunset Point. We did not walk or hike in this area, but it is a nice slow gravel drive. You go a few miles back and turn and come back out. It is a great place to see more vegetation up close and some awesome views.
A very interesting formation can be seen as you drive and there are pull-offs to stop and get some great shots of “The Castle”. From a distance, it really does look like a castle built on top of the cliffs, but as you get closer you see that nature did all the work.
Much to our surprise, we found fruit orchards. No kidding! They are there and from what I have read they are still maintained. We did see some folks working around the orchard, so I think they really do keep it up.
This orchard was the Amasa Pierce Grove. Amasa and Maria Ann Pierce moved here about 1895. Both were dedicated Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), Maria Ann organized the first children's primary association in 1898, while Amasa served for years as presiding elder. A fruit farmer, Amasa urged the building of a schoolhouse, for which he helped cut logs. He was instrumental in changing the name of the community from Junction to Fruita in 1904. Apparently, by entering the fee area you can explore Fruita more. It sounds very interesting, and I hate we missed that.
Just down from this stop is a place we passed by not realizing what it was. We should have stopped and explored. So, you will want to make sure to spend a little time here because this is a really cool spot. Many ancient petroglyphs, which are engraved etchings into rock walls, are found here. Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan people lived here between 600-1300 A.D., and their markings tell what appears to be their stories, hunting patterns, crop cycles, and mythologies of their lives. What they thought and what exactly they were communicating, will never be known because there is no actual translation available. There is a nice boardwalk along this path and looks to be handicap accessible.
Every turn and curve is a surprise of beauty. The number of times we said ooh, aah, and oh my goodness probably could not have even been counted. Admiration overcomes you each time you wind around one cliff to display the beauty of the next. The boulders, cliffs, and formations are so massive in size, yet traveling among them on the small windy road feels so very intimate. It is really hard to put that in words. When at the Grand Canyon you feel freedom, openness, and enormity, all while feeling tiny in this big world. Here (and the same for Zion National Park) I felt cozy and hugged by the canyons as we explored the roads ahead. Pictures and videos just can’t relay that feeling of intimacy to you. I sure wish it could.
My perception here was more of being part of the earth and not an observer like at the Grand Canyon. Does that even make sense to you? I hope so! Don’t get me wrong the Grand Canyon is a magical breathtaking place. Everyone should visit. One of the best memories of my entire life is a sunrise with just myself, my husband, and a nosey squirrel. It is just two very different feelings. For sure two very different vantage points to observe.
As you get closer to the end of Hwy 24, it is like you have hopped on a spaceship and were transported to the moon. Geography really starts to change. The vegetation becomes almost nonexistent. And the colors become absent to the muted grays that now lay out before you. We truly felt as though we had landed on the moon. In a very odd and boring way, it too is beautiful. No doubt fascinating. And to me, it had a lonely abandoned feeling. Much different than just a few miles back.
After reading the article I linked above about Hwy 24 I discovered things we missed and confirmed things we thought. One was in some of these areas we saw what looked like tire tracks across the mounds. We were correct. There is a recreation area here where buggies and 4-wheel drive vehicles go to play. Second, we felt as if we had left the planet and apparently, there is a “Mars” Station here somewhere that we missed.
My daddy worked at Vulcan Materials. This is a rock quarry in our area. This part of the drive sort of reminds me a lot of that. One of my favorite pictures from our trip is the cement mixer just sitting here. Looks like he made these hills. Just out in the middle of what feels like nowhere.
To sum it all up, don’t skip Capital Reef National Park. You will not regret your time here. Pack a picnic and allow at least 3-4 hours to take your time. If you are a hiker and want to do some walking, I have no doubt you could easily spend a couple of days here really exploring. I would recommend going into the paid area. I know we missed some good things by not doing so…we just did not know. Restroom options are spread throughout. There is no gas in this 50-mile stretch. If you do more of the park you will even add more mileage. Make sure you gas up around Torrey or Hanksville (west or east) before exploring too much. I am not sure what all is in Hanksville, but we drove on up to Green River and ate dinner there.
As for lodging (motel/hotel) options, I know there are some in the Torrey area and in Green River. Within Capital Reef, there is one developed campground and two primitive campgrounds. You can go to this website for the NP to get more information about that. The developed campgrounds offer 71 sites year-round. Reservations March - October. Other months are first come first served. The cost is $25. We drove on to Montrose, CO to stay the night there as we were heading on into Colorado Springs the next day.
You will see many segments of our May 2023 trip out west featured here on Substack. This post is part of that trip. We traveled from Sevierville, TN to Las Vegas to visit my aunt. Then we headed to Colorado Springs, CO to see where I was born at Fort Carson, and then back home. We had many adventures planned along the way which included Route 66 and National Parks. Eventually, you will find our complete itinerary here on Substack which will include our exact routes and stops as well as hints and tips we learned.
Things to know about our trip and the way we traveled. My mom uses a walker and I also have some mobility issues. So hiking is out and limited walking would be happening. Easy access was required for all we did. Things we saw or did would be accessible for anyone with mobility issues, using a walker/cane, or in a wheelchair. Many pictures were made from the car or very nearby the car. Anyone, with any ability, can make this trip and enjoy it immensely. If bathroom breaks are a frequent need that could be an issue in some areas, and I will make notes in all my posts about that.
I hope you will follow me on all my social media pages. On YouTube, I share beautiful videos of our trips with commentary on many. Instagram and TikTok I share quick fun clips of each individual place. And on Facebook, you can find complete photo albums of our trips allowing you to see much more than I can post here. Substack is the only place you will find complete details and itineraries. These will be available for a fee once all segments are posted.