Capitol Reef National Park – 1 of many

 

I am writing this as we are deciding if we are going to leave Capitol Reef. We keep thinking we are going to leave and we decide to stay a bit longer. I did not know what to expect when we came here and all I can say is WOW! I love this place.

I will pick up the story of our visit from Tuesday, April 14th in the afternoon to the 15th. We knew we were in for a storm and it started with very serious winds on Tuesday afternoon. Did the wind stop these intrepid travelers. Here is the answer:

That is Kim standing at the Goosenecks overlook in 50 MPH winds. It was still cool:

The drive along highway 24 that runs through the park is beautiful.

This is the Castle formation:

You just can’t capture the shear size of these walls of rock. The history of the area is very interesting and we really got into the geology of the area.

I was just at a loss as to when to quit taking pictures and then what to pick for this blog. Everywhere you look is a postcard level view. We then took the “Scenic Drive”. It is 10 miles of mostly pavement and any vehicle can drive it. Here are a few more shots of that area:

Notice the threatening skies.

We drove back into Capitol Gorge:

That is one solid wall and about 400 feet high.

That formation is called the Golden Throne.

Some of the formations are very interesting.

Well that was the first two days. All that I have taken pictures of in this entry were done from paved or easy dirt roads. Can you imagine what those formations look like covered in snow? Well, you don’t have to imagine. I will show you. In the next week we drove about 200 miles of dirt and 4X4 roads exploring this amazing place. The pictures just don’t do it justice, but I will try to tell the story with the pictures.

We have not had internet at Capitol Reef NP and doing blog updates has been a challenge. I know I am a bit behind, but I will catch up in time. We are heading to Bryce Canyon NP next and we will see what that place has to offer. It will really need to be special to not take a back seat to Capitol Reef NP.