Capitol Reef

We left Moab in the morning, taking a coffee break and pit stop at Hollow Mountain, one of the most unique convenience stores and souvenir shops I've ever visited.

The store itself is a pretty standard gas station shop, but what makes it unique is that it's built right into the side of a rocky cliff, and it feels like you are in a cave.

We were just outside of Goblin Valley State Park, so I bought a little carved goblin figure as a souvenir (I don't like using the bathroom at a shop without buying something), and after just a short drive, we pulled up at the visitor's center at Capitol Reef National Park.

Panorama Point and the Goosenecks Overlook

Capitol Reef National Park, which was established as a national monument in 1937 and promoted to a national park in 1971, was named for its odd domelike rock formations, one of which is said to look like the dome of the United States Capitol Building.

People who name rock formations have to have a pretty good imagination, I suppose.

The park is 60 miles long, but only around 6 miles wide on average, and Route 24, the only paved road in the park, runs east-west, meaning that much of the park is inaccessible to day trippers.

Known for its seemingly impassable ridges, called "reefs" by early pioneers and settlers, the arid desert of Capitol Reef is a rugged land of canyons, cliffs, towers, domes, and arches.

Unfortunately, the Scenic Drive, a short unpaved road which accessed many of the hiking trails, was closed when we visited, forcing all visitors to keep to the visitor's center and its nearby surroundings. It ended up being very difficult to find a place to park in the insufficient parking lot, and crowds made visiting the one bathroom (located at the visitor's center) a real hassle.

Nevertheless, we were determined to make the most of it! We first took a walk around Panorama Point, a rocky expanse with sprawling views over the desert landscape.

From the point's overlook, we could peer down and just barely see the rushing waters of Sulfur Creek far, far below. There wasn't much of a place to hike around, but the view was magnificent.

Sunset Point

We decided to go offroad a bit and drove on to Sunset Point. The hike was pretty short, but the views were nice. The weather was a bit cooler than it had been the previous two days, and I enjoyed the autumn breeze from atop the cliffs.

Sunset Point - as you can probably imagine - faces west and is a popular place to watch the sunset. We visited in midday, and the trail was almost empty, which was nice after getting out of the super busy visitor's center.

Sadly, those were the only two trails that were currently open to visitors at the time. We parked for a picnic lunch, then drove back on Route 24 to see a few of the park's historical sites.

Fruita

Despite the unforgiving landscape of the surrounding mountains and desert, there's something of an oasis in the valley along what is now Route 24. Fruita, named for the orchards that early settlers planted (and which still exist today!) was a small settlement established by Mormon pioneers in the 1880s.

During certain times in the year, visitors can wander through the orchards eating as much fruit as they want (you can pick fruit to take home as well for a nominal fee).

The settlement was small, and today just one building remains: the old schoolhouse.

Before the Fruita Schoolhouse was built in 1896, young Nettie Behunin, just twelve years old, began teaching local children in her family’s cabin. Nettie’s first class had 22 students, including three of her siblings.

The current schoolhouse was built in 1910. Although the building was locked, I was able to peek inside the windows to see what the classroom would have been like.

Petroglyph Panel

But this area has been populated even before the Mormon pioneers showed up, as evidenced by the Petroglyph Panel, an ancient rockface accessible in the Fruita District by a wooden boardwalk. At first the petroglyphs are a bit hard to spot, but as soon as you see one of the distinct shapes scratched into the rock, you start to spot more and more.

The oldest petroglyphs, which depict people and animals, date back to around the year 300 AD. The area was populated by indigenous people referred to as the Fremont Culture for nearly 1000 years before disappearing around the year 1300. What happened to them is unknown, and very little is known about the people who once lived here. Scholars propose that they may have moved to Idaho and other more northern areas, but the exact fate of the Fremont Culture may well remain a historical mystery.

Although we ended up being slightly disappointed with the park due to the crowds, traffic, and roadwork, it's hard to really give it a fair review. The construction work prevented us from really getting a good feel of what Capitol Reef really has to offer, and I'd definitely like to come back someday to explore it further and give it a second chance.

Dixie National Forest

Leaving the park, we drove nearly 9,000 feet above sea level through Dixie National Forest on our way to our next hotel.

As we climbed higher into the mountains, the temperature continued falling, and though we were just a short drive from Capitol Reef, the lush green forest landscape couldn't have been any more different from what we had seen at the national park.

Annie's Place

We descended out of the national forest to Cannonville, Utah, population 186. We were staying at Annie's Place, a bed and breakfast in a 100-year-old farmhouse. We checked in, washed the dust off, and headed out to find dinner.

There are two restaurants in town which cater to people passing through between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon, but one of them was closed, so our decision as to what to eat for dinner was pretty much made for us.

We ate at the Sweetwater Kitchen, a farm-to-table restaurant at a ranch up in the hills above Cannonville.

Dinner was excellent - the best meal we've had so far on our trip! We sat out on the balcony, and it started to get a little cold. The staff had to turn on the gas heaters for us.

Everyone's been telling us that it's been unseasonably warm in Utah - the hottest autumn anyone can remember. It's usually snowing by now, we've been told. Part of me is glad that it's not. Snow would make the drives extremely difficult, and I'm not exactly packed for what I would consider to be "winter weather". The other part of me, however, kind of wishes I could see a little bit of snow before we leave Utah.

After dinner we returned back down the now pitch-black roads to the farmhouse. I was tired and called it an early night. Tomorrow, we will be heading onwards, out of Boulder and south towards Bryce Canyon National Park.