Capitol Reef

April 30, 2009

Capitol Reef is one of the least visited of the national parks. The park is famous for its 100 mile waterpocket fold caused by the buckling of rock which produced ridges. Pioneers called these ridges ‘reefs’.

A section of the park used to be a Mormon pioneer community. The pioneers planted orchards of apples, peaches, cherries. The orchards still exist and visitors are welcome to pick fruits during the season (June to Sept).

We stopped at the Guiford house, a pioneer house inside the park. They sell pies, jams, ice cream. We had homemade strawberry rhubarb pie for our midmorning snack and vanilla ice cream for our afternoon snack. They were truly delicious. Bought some jams for pasalubong and their famous cheese bread to replenish our food supply.

The great thing about the park is that visitors can drive to the bottom of a gorge and hike onwards. The drive to the bottom of the gorge was via a scenic, maintained dirt road. We did an easy 2 mile hike in the Capitol Gorge which surrounded us with sheer canyon walls. Really impressive and made us feel small. After the hike we enjoyed our staple hiking food - peanut butter sandwiches and chips.

It’s funny how some natural structures in the parks are named - for example, Molly’s Nipple and Fern’s Nipple.

We went back to the hotel early, to rest. The next few days will be hectic.