Capitol Reef National Park, Utah (5 days all on solar)!

What a beautiful drive over on scenic Hwy 12. Probably the most amazing hwy we have EVER been on! Cliffs on both sides, driving on the rim, snow capped mountains and once up to the tree line , Aspen trees as far as you can see. Welcome to Fruita, where we called home for 5 days, no service or amenities! Nestled in a little valley with mountains surrounding us and deer who visited early morning and around dinner time! Capitol Reef National Park was established in 1937 and became a National Park in 1971. There are 19 layers of rock (Zion only has 9)and 1000 geological areas here in this park. Such diversity of its landscape and sedimentary layers….cliffs, ridges,domes, canyons, monoliths and badlands in such a diversity of colors! Capitol Dome is a Navajo sandstone feature that was named for its resemblance to the U.S. Capitol. This dome, along with the nearly 100 mile Waterpocket Fold (a barrier of rock that obstructed early travelers like a barrier “reef”), inspired the park’s name. Petroglyphs from 600-1300 CE, native people of the Fremont Culture made their homes here. All along Hwy 24 and trails petroglyphs can be seen. ****Historical Fruita has a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, and the famous Gifford House and museum (which has fresh baked warm pies, bread and cinnamon buns at 8 am every morning….. literally 265 feet from our door)! 😱 🥧 Yes we tried the cinnamon buns, fresh sourdough bread and all 5 flavors of pies! Exhibits on Mormon pioneer history are on display there too. The historical Orchards are all around us…apple, peach, cherry, pear, plum, apricot & almond trees. Open June through October for public harvesting. Very large Cottonwood trees are all over Fruita and have some serious narley branches and bark.***We attended ranger lead program one evening about “Bats”. Did you know that there are 1300 species of bats?!! 🦇 Me either! Then another program on the Fremont people who settled here first along the Fremont River. Petroglyphs are seen throughout the park which are really clear to see after all this time. ***We drove the scenic drive past Fruita, through Grand Wash… which made our truck look really small. We hiked the trail seeing a lot of geological features and petroglyphs. Then drove to Capitol Gorge Trailhead and hiked up to the Tanks! 2.57 miles with a 221’ elevation gain, almost a straight up climb.Really cool wide rocky slot canyon. Off to Egyptian Temple with its red rock formations. To end this day we went to Gooseneck Point…straight up hike with a gorgeous view then to Panorama Point and on the way back stopped in the small town of Torrey and found a fountain Diet Coke! ***Another day we drove Utah 24 stopping at the orchards, Mormon School house, petroglyphs boardwalk, and the Behunin house where a family with 13 children lived for over a year in a one roomed house. Hickman Bridge trail was a 2 mile trail with elevation change of 465ft almost straight up climbing over rocks and boulders. But when you finally get to the area… It’s a 133 ft natural bridge with gorgeous Canyon views. ***One of our days we did an all day trip doing the Cathedral Loop which is a driving tour through the northern part of Capitol Reef National Park and BLM lands along the park’s northeastern boundary. It’s a remote backcountry with no paved roads, that features stark landscapes and high degrees of solitude! We saw desert areas, towering monoliths, volcanic dikes and historical, archeology and geology sites. Round trip was 98 miles starting at visitor center, to get water levels since we had to drive through the Fremont River in the beginning to get to the trail! Very exciting! We saw wild turkeys, marmots, chipmunks, prong horn, & cows along our drive. Covering 280 million years, this area reveals Mesozoic-era sedimentary rock layers, formed at or near sea level then about 75 million years ago, tectonic forces uplifted them, forming the Waterpocket Fold which is North America’s largest Monocline (a massive wrinkle in the earths crust 90 miles long)! What an amazing 6 1/2 hour day trip! We had an wonderful picnic lunch at the most spectacular overlook with the view of the Cathedral Valley! 🧺 🥪⛰ ****On our last day in this area we drove to Goblin Valley State Park. Established in 1964, lies within the San Rafael Desert, north of the Henry Mountains (which are the snow capped mountains in our pictures). This park has thousands of hoodoos, referred to as goblins, which are in formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles with some as tall as several yards! The average rate of erosion of a hoodoo is approximately 2-4 feet every 100 years! The Entrada sandstone from which the hoodoos developed was deposited in the Jurassic period around 170 million years ago. Goblin Valley along with Bryce Canyon NP, contain the largest occurrences of hoodoos in the world! Their shapes are from an erosion resistant layer of rock atop relatively softer sandstone. On our way it was like right out of a western for as we were driving down the road we had to stop for 2 cowboys and their dog were herding cows across the street! 🐄 🤠 🤦🏻‍♀️ On our way back we washed the dirty/dusty truck then at dinner at the Broken Spur Restaurant in Torrey! Tim’s first beer in Utah, a Juicy Johnny’s Hazy IPA from Moab Brewery 5%! We then continued Happy Hour around a campfire where bats were actually flying above us! 🦇 Crazy adventures! 😂😱🤣 This was such a beautiful place to explore! Days were 60’s to 74*, and nights 40-44*. Our heater is working nightly! Off to Moab for 6 days.