Скачать или смотреть Ep#2 - Capitol Reef: The National Park You’ve Never Heard Of

We are off on another adventure! Located in south-central Utah in the heart of red rock country, Capitol Reef National Park is a treasure filled with cliffs, canyons, domes, and natural bridges in the Waterpocket Fold, a geologic monocline (a wrinkle on the earth) extending almost 100 miles. This park is a hidden gem, and it is small enough to see most of the park in a day, depending on how many hikes you want to do.

The beauty of hiking in Capitol Reef National Park, aside from the sweeping vistas, seemingly endless landscape, and limitless sky and desert rock, is that because it's a little more out of the way than Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands and Arches, it's less crowded. But make no mistake, the scenery is just as spectacular.

We chose to do 2 main hikes. One to Hickman Bridge and the other to Cassidy Arch.
Hickman Bridge:
This natural bridge is 133’ (40m) long and 125’ (37m) high. The hike was a 1.8mi (2.9km) roundtrip hike with an elevation gain of 400’ (120m). Hickman Bridge was named for early park promoter, Joseph Hickman. He and his friend, Ephraim Pectol, worked together to establish a park in the 1920’s called “Wayne Wonderland” which is now named “Capitol Reef”. Capitol Reef became a national park in December 1971.
Cassidy Arch:
This was our favorite hike. It is a 3.4 mi (5.6km) out and back hike with a elevation gain of 670’ (204m). It is a strenuous hike and may not be the best option for someone who hasn’t hiked much on rocky surfaces or is uncomfortable with heights. It is possible to get on top of the arch itself.

On our way to the visitor center we stopped to view some petroglyphs on the side of the road that were between 500-725 years old as well as a one room structure that was built in 1896 and utilized as a schoolhouse and a community room for the area. The schoolhouse was utilized until 1941.

A stop at Capital Reef National Park wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the Gifford House Museum known for homemade baked pies that utilize some of the fruit from the local Fruita area trees. They sell over 70,000 pies a year! We walked away with smorgasbord of pies…apple, peach, cherry, mixed berry, and strawberry rhubarb. They were all absolutely delicious. We hear they sometimes run out during high tourist season, so if you’re wanting to sample any, get there early.

With full stomachs we headed down the scenic 8 mile (12.9km) drive then continued 2 mi (3.2km) on a dirt road to the Capital Gorge trailhead for a short 1.2mi (1.9km) out and back hike to view the Pioneer Register of names carved into the rock. We opted not to continue on to the tanks as we wanted to have enough time to hike Cassidy arch. We were a bit disappointed to see some recent graffiti added on the Pioneer Register rock but we enjoyed seeing all the various rock formations throughout the gorge. It is hard to imagine families making their way through this area in wagons and horses.

In total, we logged over 7 miles (11.8km) in this beautiful park. We celebrated with a short soak in our hotel’s hot tub before heading out to sample the hard cider at Etta’s Place. We liked the Imperial hard cider.

Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
0:23 Hickman Bridge
3:51 Petroglyphs
4:12 One Room Schoolhouse (built in 1896)
4:35 Gifford Museum (famous pies)
5:13 Scenic Drive (8mi + 2mi dirt road to Capital Gorge Trailhead)
6:10 Pioneer Register
7:26 Cassidy Arch
11:00 Panorama Point Overlook
11:21 A little relaxation
11:44 Summary thoughts on Capitol Reef National Park

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