ANOTHER DESOLATION DESTINATION

Waterpocket Fold

When forces built the Colorado Plateau 65 million years ago, they created a geologic monocline (translation: a wrinkle on the earth’s surface.)  Now this is not just any small wrinkle but a hundred mile folded bulge in south central Utah, known as the Waterpocket Fold.  This warp in the earth’s crust is the reason for the Capitol Reef National Park.  There are three distinct areas of this park with varying degrees of difficulty to explore.

Near the visitor center, along highway 24 is the Fruita section. This is the civilized part, with paved roads and maintained trails where the average visitor stops for 1-2 hours before heading to Arches, Bryce Canyon or the Grand Canyon.  95% of Capital Reef Visitors see only this section of the park. Despite the human presence, wildlife flourishes here.  In addition to the usual collection of squirrels and chipmunks, lizards and snakes: Deer and wild turkeys regularly cruise through the orchards and the campground. Ringtail raccoons are spotted at night, stealthy black bears leave signs but are rarely seen and mountain lion’s have been filmed stalking deer in the orchards and strolling along the canyon rim.   

The Hunt

Alien Invasion?

Civilization is nothing new to this protected section of the Fremont River. Archaic hunters and gatherers began migrating through the area around some 10,0000 years ago.   About 2,000 years ago the Fremont Culture settled here for around 1,000 years and left significant petroglyphs and pictographs.  In the 1800’s Mormon pioneers gave the area its name, built homesteads and planted orchards.  The buildings of the Gifford Homestead (the last residents of Fruita) are still standing and give a glimpse into pioneer life. The Gifford House is used as an outlet to sell pioneer arts and crafts, locally baked pies, bread and cinnamon rolls and homemade ice cream.  (All very tasty BTW!) The orchards are still maintained by the park service.  Visitors can pick all the ripe fruit you can eat in the orchards or pay a dollar per pound to take some home. For us, apricots are in season – Yea! Apricot crepes for breakfast Woo Hoo!

The park campground is located in Fruita.  There are no reservations here. Its first come/first serve for dry camping with limited generator hrs. (No problem we have solar.) There are public restrooms but no showers. (Not something we need.) No cell service (a nice break) Wi FI is available 8 miles away at the visitor center in Torrey for when we need that WWW fix.  There’s a dump station and potable water and lots of shade. (Which is very important when temps are hitting upwards of 100 degrees.)  We arrive early in the day, early in the week and score a great shady spot on the end. This spot is so nice, that we decide to stay the fourteen maximum days allowed.  (Our golden geezer discount of $10 a day also weighs in on this decision LOL)

Fruita

There are a number of trailheads near the campground. The Cohab Canyon Trail starts with a series of switchbacks that get us up about 400 ft to the canyon.  Here we explore hidden canyons and climb higher to the Spur Trail View Points for vistas of the Fruita Cliffs and the valley below.  The Fremont River Trail is an easy stroll along the river and then a 480 ft climb for more panorama views. The visitor center trail winds along Scenic Drive from the campground to the Visitor Center.  This trail is also bike friendly, so we ride here instead of walking.  Just up Hwy 24 from the visitor center is the Fremont Petroglyph Panels with a wooden boardwalk, informational displays and mounted binoculars to view the panels.

The only paved road in the park is Scenic Drive.  It winds 25 miles from the visitor center, past the homestead orchards, red rock monuments, tilting rocks, pocketed and rippled sandstone, washes and slick rock.  This is the number one attraction here.

Sandstone Ramp

Headquarters Slot

The next most accessible section of the park is the Waterpocket District in the southern portion of the park.  This is for the five-per centers looking for ambitious day hikes, canyoneering and backpacking.  Notom-Bullfrog Road runs along the east side of the Waterpocket fold for 34 miles from Hwy 24 to Burr Trail.  The first 11 miles are paved.  In good weather the road is passable for passenger cars.  After rain, washes that cross the road make for slick and sometimes impassible driving.  We drive this road multiple times during our stay in Escalante and while here and every time it’s a different experience, (One time after a heavy rain it’s totally impassable at the last wash before the Burr Trail intersection.)  Along this road are the unmaintained and rugged (but well trodden) trails.  We hike Headquarters Canyon, which is considered the area’s best hike.  It’s 3 ½ miles across the Waterpocket Fold and up into the canyon with a sandy wash, colorful rock formations, a good slot section a 35-40 degree sandstone ramp up to a 6 foot dry fall.  We stop here for a snack and decide to turn around rather than climbing up only to walk a few minutes more to the 70 ft dry fall at the canyon end. 

The third section of Capital Reef is Cathedral Valley to the north.  Less than 1% of park visitors venture here.  The primary deterrent is accessibility.  With no signs of pavement and only a ghost of grading, it takes good weather, high clearance 4wd, and patience to complete the 59-mile Cathedral Valley Loop Drive. Before starting this drive, we stop at the visitor center to check road conditions.  The Ranger hands us a half sheet with directions to make the Fremont River crossing. 

Eleven plus miles from the visitor center we turn off on Hartnet Rd.  A short drive and we splash into the Fremont River.  Here the river becomes the road for about 400 ft then the road exits to the left.  We stop and explore along the way. Pictures tell the story:

An abandoned truck at a cattle water tank

ant hills in the desert surrounded
 by rings of wildflowers
Martha Stewart  Ants?

Bentonite hills

Heart Stopping...

Overlooks

A Glass Mountain and Red Rock

Monoliths:  R-L Glass Mountain, 

Temple of the Moon, Temple of the Sun 

and a gypsum sinkhole.

The journey also takes us across a zillion washes: dry, damp and wet.

Wilderness Dave

Eight miles from the park is Torrey Utah.  In addition to the free Wi Fi at the visitor center, fuel is reasonably priced and the Chuckwagon is a good spot to pick up essentials like beer, margarita mix, a deli lunch and do our laundry.

Goblets of goodness YUM!

For a more upscale meal, it’s Café Diablo.  They have an impressive Tequila offering and a menu of specialty Margaritas.  While perusing the menu we sip top shelf blood orange margaritas.   We decide to split two entrees:  The Steak & Green Chile Lettuce Rolls: Garden greens, roasted corn, crisp tortilla chips, green chile dressing and cumin cheddar cheese rolled in Romaine lettuce leaves topped with a perfect fillet of beef and the Shrimp & Crab Stack: layers of shrimp, crab, horseradish remoulade, mangos, tomatoes, avocado, red pepper and arugula. Both dishes were light, bright and balanced.  The combination of these two dishes is our interpretation of surf and turf.  

The closest town to forage for groceries is Loa, 17 miles past Torrey.  Royal Market is well stocked with reasonable prices. Fuel is a bit cheaper here.

The Escalante-Grand Staircase and Capitol Reef are some of the most desolated spots in the US.  We have just scratched the surface here.  But July & August are not the months to explore the desert. Daytime temps are hovering around the 100 mark, and the monsoon season has started early so it’s off to Colorado to get high… altitude.