Mighty Five (Part 2) October 2020 (Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands)

Utah Part 1

Ranger Rebe at Dead Horse Point

Capitol Reef Album

Arches Album

Canyonlands Album

Day 11 Moving Day

It is always sad leaving a beautiful place like Zion, which may or may not have made it into my top three favorite National Parks. But this is the day we left, this is a Saturday and it was rightfully planned this way as you can imagine most parks are slightly more crowded on the weekends so being at Zion on a Saturday was not in the cards.  This is also why we went to Bryce first weekend instead. 

The move now is towards the middle of southern Utah, to the least known of the Mighty 5, Capitol Reef National Park.  Capitol Reef is only three and a half hours from Zion, but with so much beauty in southern Utah we decided to take the long route and see some of the cool sights. We left the park through the east entrance, the same as which we entered and headed toward Kanab. From Kanab we continued heading west on US 89 through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument but then took a left on Cottonwood Canyon Rd.  This is a dirt road that goes through the monument has access to a few hiking trails and a bit of diverse landscapes. 

Dirt Road through Cottonwood Canyon

There were a few trails that we wanted to do but we knew the route we were on was going to lead to the day being longer than it needed to be so we skipped them.  We did have a quick stop at the Grovsner Arch, didn’t even hike to it just hopped out the car and snapped a pic. 

Grovsner Arch

From Cottonwood Canyon we arrived back at Kodachrome State park and Utah State Route 12.  Utah State Route 12 is a scenic byway that traverses the best parts of southern Utah.  We had seen most of the road as it is the same road that we had previously ridden e-bikes near Bryce down to Red Canyon.  But the part we were going to drive today was going to be even more epic, at one point Rebe was trying to convince me that we should take another route (Devil’s Backbone) and avoid the epic section but luckily she read some reviews and that convinced her to back off this idea.  Also that route would have probably added another 1.5 hours to the journey. 

Overview from Utah 12

Quick stop at Petrified Forest State park where they had an entire tree

Entire petrified tree found nearby in a ravine

After getting through part of Route 12 we stopped and had a meal at Magnolia’s Food Truck in Boulder, Utah. From there we decided to detour back into the Grand Staircase via the Burr Trail Road.  This is another scenic road, partially paved luckily and would spit us out into the middle of Capitol Reef National Park. If you’re ever in the area, and have extra time I really think checking this area out is a must. 

View from Burr Trail Road - Henry Mountains in the distance

The Lampstand... I think 

Being dumped in the middle of Capitol Reef National Park (CRNP) was a bit confusing as we were trying to figure out from the viewpoint what the “waterpocket fold” of CRNP was. Yep, that’s what they call the main ridge that runs through the park and maybe tomorrow at the visitor’s center I can get a better explanation of what exactly that means. Either way, the ridge looks cool and unique and we get why it’s special. 

The first view of the "Reef"

From the middle of the park we had to take a dirt road back up to the main road and were still 50 miles from our hotel.  Maps said we were 2+ hours away, but I was determined to knock an hour off that time.  The dirt road was rough but not so rough I couldn’t get us to the hotel in a decent amount of time.  Granted I did stop for a few more pics as the landscape was just too beautiful not to stop for. 

The "Reef"

Mule Deer going about their business

Day 12 Capitol Reef National Park 

We got an early start but I’m not sure why we did, Capitol Reef National Park (CRNP) is not crazy busy like the other parks and after today I think I know why.  Most of the National Parks, or at least the famous ones, all have a signature sight, area or image associated with the park that everyone will flock to.  Capitol Reef doesn’t really have that.  That does not mean that this place is not worth visiting it’s just you have to be prepare for what you will see or won’t see. There’s not a super large obvious hoodoo, arch or formation that you will see, but the signature feature is so large that you really can’t see it from up close and even a satellite image doesn’t quite do it justice. 

Hickman Bridge

View from the Hickman Bridge trail

In the previous day I spoke about the “Waterpocket Fold” and whatever that is.  Well, after our first hike up to Hickman Bridge, we attended a geology session with one of the park rangers. He obviously went into all the layers that can be seen while in Capitol Reef which some layers can be seen at Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon (funny enough the lowest layer in CRNP is top layer at the Grand Canyon).  Same story as the rest of the Colorado Plateau, you know…oceans, lakes, droughts, giant sand dunes, dinosaurs, Pangea, etc. And for Zion and Bryce, those formations were eroded by a river in Zion’s case and with Bryce it was water freezing and unthawing over time to break down the side of the plateau.  But with CRNP something very different happened, a fault below the formation pushed up the area in a sharp crease (that’s the reef part of the name, or where the “fold” comes from) and then the area was eroded so all the layers that were pushed up probably got washed down by the local rivers and ended up in the Colorado River.  As for the “waterpocket” name, the erosion created gullies in the top of the fold and water will collect up there. So, CRNP is cool just a different kinda cool. 

Section view of the Waterpocket Fold

After the talk we did Sunset point and the Gooseneck canyon THEN decided to take a nap…well because why not. 

Gooseneck Canyon

Sunset Point

We got back to the park around 2pm and after eating lunch we decided to drive the 8 mile scenic road through the park. Not sure why they call it scenic drive, sure it’s scenic but it’s almost like you’re just driving down any of the roads in southern Utah.  I know all this sounds like CRNP is a weak show but it’s still cool, if you are a rock nerd like me. At the end of the scenic drive there is a road that leads into Capitol Gorge.  Then there’s a trail into the canyon further so we did that (it has old petroglyphs and pioneer name/date carvings).  

Road into Capitol Gorge

We drove back up the scenic drive to repeat the views and hike the Grand Wash trail. We saw some big horn sheep on the trail too. 

Big horn sheep

Grand Wash trail photo

My plan was to get out of Grand Wash with enough time to catch sunset at Sunset Point, except I thought the sun went down at 730 (730 is about when sunrise happens so you can understand my confusion) but in fact it went down at 7.  We scramble out of the main section of the park, drive over to Sunset Point and EVERYONE is leaving.  I even run past another photographer who saw me on the previous trail and he just laughs at my misfortune.  But little does he know I still got magic in my camera bag... just because you can’t see the sun doesn’t mean all the light is gone. 

13 second exposure from Sunset Point

It was pitch black when we walked back to the car with our headlamps, but I think the pics turned out alright 😉

Day 13 Capitol Reef National Park, Goblin Valley State Park

Another early morning rise to beat the crowds into the park, but this time it was for a reason other than the trails.  It was because Capitol Reef is known for two things, the first is it’s obvious geological formations and the second is that the area in which the visitor’s center now resides is in the historic town of Fruita. Fruita is a former Mormon settlement where the inhabitants planted numerous apple, cherry, apricot, and peach trees.  If you come during picking season you can pick all you want, if you eat it before you leave the orchard it’s free but if you want to take some home it’s going to cost you.  The picking season was not great this year so there wasn’t any fruit left to pick. But the fruit they did pick they are still making pies which usually sell out quick.  We bought 3 pies (apple, peach, cherry) and a cinnamon roll that we ate for breakfast while watching the mule deer. 

Pie from Capitol Reef, I was going to also put a pic of the cinnamon roll
but it was half eaten when I took the pic

Mule deer eating breakfast right off the main road

After breakfast we went over to explore the petroglyphs which were carved long before the Mormons were on the scene. They were made by the natives in the area who grew corn and hunted the large animals that used to inhibit the area. While they were in the area they left some drawings on the walls in the area. 

Petroglyphs

We were then torn as to whether we wanted to hike up a cliff, just leave, or figure out some more sights to see somehow.  We weren’t really keen on hiking up a cliff and I personally wasn’t convinced that hiking up the sights that the ranger suggested would actually give the greatest views at the times we would get up there. Instead we decided to drive back down Botom road, this is the dirt road that we entered the park on.  But this time the sun would be on our side and it would not be dark so we would have a better view of what we missed that night. 

Reef from Botom Road

While on the drive this happened…

Nearby Ranchers were moving the herd

Upon completion of the road and making it back to Utah 24 we started our trek to the Moab area, but along the way we decided to stop at Goblin Valley State Park.  This is a little park out in the literal middle of nowhere. Goblin Valley is known for having short stumpy hoodoos which of course resemble goblins.  

Goblin Valley

The park has a main area of goblins and a few trails that circle the area, one of which leads to the Goblin’s Lair which is a cave towards the back of the park.  After getting lost on the poorly marked trail signs, we found our way into the sketchy entrance to the cave and climbed half way in.  I couldn’t route an easy way to the bottom so we just stopped most of the way down and enjoyed the cave.

Goblin's Cave

There was also a smaller cave nearby aptly named Goblette’s cave, so we stopped by that too. 

From inside Goblette's Cave

From there it was straight to Moab, until I was distracted by this formation that looked very similar to what we have just witnessed a Capitol Reef.  And indeed it was, it is the San Rafael Swell and it appears from my elementary geology lesson that it was produced in the same fashion as Capitol Reef. There were a few trails in the area but we didn’t hike them instead I took some pictures. We were again about to take the main road back toward Moab when I saw a paved road that appeared to go over the Swell…had to take it after a bit of research.  It quickly turned to dirt but eventually let us out on to Interstate 70. 

San Rafael Swell

San Rafael Swell from the other side

I-70 was normal highway until it crossed back over the swell. 

I-70 through the San Rafael Swell

From there it was home to our new cabin in the RV park a midst the red rocks of Moab.  Groceries, Thai and sleep. 

Day 14 Colorado River and La Sal Pass

Instead of a hike we thought a day on the river would be a good change of pace.  We had the opportunity to take a raft with many other people but passed (ya know COVID and what not) and decided that we would take our our kayak down the river for an all day experience. We met at the raft shop at 815am, got orientation and then were on the river by 945am.  Rebe and I had our own 2 person kayak so we could work together…or work against one another. 

Our rivermates and Castle Valley in the background

After getting to the halfway point, Rebe and I had decided we had had enough of the paddling (wet butts) and headed back for town.  Stocked up on grapes because the grocer was out last night, and then decided to take a drive up the La Sal mountains.  This path would lead us through Castle Valley which is the backdrop for a lot of the western scenes in HBO’s Westworld. 

Castle Valley from La Sal Lookout Point

The evening was pretty tame, as it consisted of dinner, 2nd pie from capital reef (peach), and laundry.  The excitement begins in the parks tomorrow.

Day 15 Arches National Park

If you’re sensing a theme with early starts, I think you’ve figured out the National Park game.  Get in early, get parking and do what you want to do first.  Today was not different, we were in the front gate by 745 and after a few quick snapshots at the front of the park we were headed to the back of the park which is called Devil’s Garden. 

Devil’s Garden is an area of Arches National Park that has 7 arches that can be hiked to and we put in over 6 miles to see most of them.  They include Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch, Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, Private Arch and the Double O Arch.  We skipped the Private Arch as the trail that goes back there was very sandy and thick sand just sounded like more work just to see one more arch. Here’s a few pics of the arches:

Tunnel Arch 

Us at Landscape Arch 

Pine Tree Arch

Double O Arch, note the lower arch in the shade

While in the back of the park we also hiked over to the Tapestry Arch and the Broken Arch.  This area was behind a campground and was MUCH less traveled. It was nice to get away from the crowds and to see more arches, though at this point I was already getting arched out. 

Broken Arch

After a quick stop at Panorama Point we headed over to The Windows section of the park to see…yep if you’re playing at home you guessed it: ARCHES. There’s a short loop that hits the North and South Windows, and stops by the Turret Arch.  Just across the parking lot is the tallest arch in the park, Double Arch. 

North and South Windows

Double Arch

With all that out of the way, it was time for the main event. There is one arch in the park that is so famous, so special that it is currently on the Utah license plates.

Utah License Plate

Its name is Delicate Arch, funny enough this arch was not included in the original designation of the Arches Monument in 1929 but was added when the monument was expanded in 1938 (Thanks Wikipedia). The arch is atop a mesa which is 1.5 miles from the parking lot.  It’s not connected to anything, it’s just up there all by itself which is weird in comparison to all the other large arches in the park. The hike to get up there is just a walk up a big slab of ‘slickrock’ sandstone and then sit down and stare.  As you can imagine everyone wants a picture with the arch and the true photographers want no one in the images, so at one point during the sunset viewing people started booing the instagram groupies. Then the photographers started yelling “WAIT,” basically begging for a chance to take a picture of the arch without some groupie posing for 3 minutes.  Luckily this happened a few times and I was able to get a few decent shots in. 

Delicate Arch

The crowd at Delicate Arch

Rebe and I at Delicate Arch

The hike back down was into the darkness, we ordered pizza from the road and began plotting the next day. 

Day 16 Dead Horse State Park and Canyonlands National Park (“Island in the Sky” sector)

Rebe and I had read about this small Utah state park named Dead Horse Point. It was named this because there is a point on the canyon rim where ranchers would corner wild horses, fence them in, pick the ones they wanted and then eventually let the rest free…except for the time they accidentally didn’t. And so the name stuck.  It is a small park and is basically only a peninsula into the canyon but it’s a good one.  So good in fact that I think it would be better served as part of Canyonlands but it’s a bit late for that now.   

I had convinced myself that I would wake up at 6am and drive 40 minutes to see the sunrise at Dead Horse Point. I told Rebe she could sleep in and when I was done I would come back to get her and then we would go to Canyonlands together. Well when I woke up, she changed her mind so off we went into the dark morning together to see the sunrise.  When we got to the park, there were only a few other cars there waiting on the sun and I was smart enough this time to get there early enough to have enough time to actually scope out a position.  Myself and another one of the photogs were jockeying for the best position and we found this rock WAY in the back that overlooked the canyon wall.  You see I was there for the epic early light on the canyon walls, he was there for the sunrise so he left me to my own and I had a great time shooting. I’d seen the sunrise before, but not the light splashing on the canyon walls. 

From Dead Horse Point overlooking the Colorado River

A wider view of the overlook

We then had breakfast (peanut butter, banana, nutella sandwich) at Dead Horse Point while plotting our plan for the day, how many trails, which trails, which order?  Who knows? Off to the park we went and after a quick stop at the visitor’s center we stopped at the Shafer Canyon Overlook for our 2nd glance at the canyon created by the Green and Colorado Rivers.

From there it was over to the famous Mesa Arch. This is probably the 2nd most popular arch in Utah after Delicate Arch.  Mesa Arch is known for it’s “sunrise” glow of where the sun hits the inner/underside of the arch and emits a reddish glow all while the photographer can still focus on the canyon through the arch.  It’s a really unique arch and gets plenty of attention. When we were there it wasn’t nuts but the parking lot was still full and it was getting close to 10am and well past sunrise.  I was thinking the “glow” would be gone but there was a tad left for me. 

Mesa Arch

Mesa Arch from afar

Next we stopped at the Green River Overlook.

Green River Overlook

And passed a whale

Whale Rock

Then we did a hike up to the overview of Upheaval Dome, which is a site where scientists believe that a meteor struck the earth and disrupted the strata of sandstone.  Originally it was thought to be a collapse of a salt dome but recent findings in the crater are creating doubt on that theory. It was a nice short 2 mile hike. 

Next we were going to walk to Murphy Point Overlook but with such an early start to the day, we were due a nap so that’s what we did in the car.  We debated driving back to the cabin but that would have cost us almost 2 hours plus the nap and we would have lost a lot of time. After getting refreshed we did the out and back hike to the point and thus far this was one of the best locations for viewing the canyon in the park. 

Murphy Point Overlook

Quick stop at Buck Canyon Overlook and finally we ended the day at Grand View Overlook.  We were going to hike the trail but as you can see from the photos throughout the day there is a thick haze in the area.  When I got home I learned that there was a fire about 30 miles south of where our cabin is… I’m not very hopeful for clear days over the next few days.  And it also seems like it’s supposed to snow on Monday.  Sounds like we might get out of Utah in just enough time to miss the really bad weather. 

Grand View Overlook

Dinner was leftover pizza and our final pie (cherry) from Capitol Reef :(

 

Day 17 Canyonlands National Park (“Needles” sector)

I want to start this section off with a few thoughts about Canyonlands vs Grand Canyon. Rebe and I were having this discussion yesterday about how Canyonlands (at least the Island in the Sky sector) is “small” enough that you can actually understand the geology and “see” the canyon from the rim. We feel that you really can’t get that same grasp at the Grand Canyon, it’s really just too big, too deep and too wide. I’m not saying one park is better than the other, but it literally took a ride on a rubber boat for me to truly understand the scale of what the Grand Canyon is. Sure we could compare stats to how wide/deep they both are but numbers on paper can’t always give you the true sense of what you’re looking at.  Now which park is better?  That’s an entirely different conversation. 

Now back to our regularly schedule ramblings…

Today was our chance to visit a second section of Canyonlands, the park actually has four sectors: Island in the Sky - the upper rim section between the Green and Colorado rivers, Needles - south of Island in the Sky and characterized by red and white sandstone spires, The Maze - a section of the park for 4WD vehicles, no trails and no services, and Horseshoe Canyon - protects some Native American ruins. The sector we would visit would be Needles, no clue of what to expect other than “needles.” 

On the road to the Needles Sector

The entrance to this section of the park is about 1.5 hours from Moab so it was going to be a late start no matter what time we left. After grabbing breakfast (Love Muffin Cafe, highly recommended) in Moab and a short conversation with rangers at the visitor center we were at our first trailhead at 11am. Though only 35% of the park attendance happens at this sector of the park, it was still somewhat crowded as we got one of the last parking spaces at the time.  I guess being so far from Moab everyone gets there around 10-11am. We chose to hike to the Chesler Park View Point, this hike would lead us straight into the heart of The Needles. 

The Needles

The day before we could make out some of the features in the needles district from afar, views of tall pointy bits but being on the ground and in person really changes my perception of the park.  I thought the entire park would just be about the canyons, but it is much more diverse than just the canyons. This section of the park is so unique and other worldly, I made comments to Rebe that it was like being on a Star Wars movie set or at times in the Mario video game. 

View off the Chesler Park Trail 

The Needles sector of the park is small with respect to roads that you can drive but there are plenty of trails to hike if you have the time and energy. But we didn’t have much of either, so after completing the first trail we drove around to the Sliprock Trail just to see what else the park had to offer. 

View from Sliprock Trail

Wooden Shoe Mesa

By this time it was 445pm and we still had to drive more than 1.5 hours back to our cabin, but that didn’t stop me from capturing some great images just outside the park borders.  Also passed some rock climbers going up the sandstone faces. 

Mesa outside the park boundary

Crack Climber

Dinner was Sultan Mediterranean, ok not bad. 

Day 18 Canyonlands National Park (“Island in the Sky” sector) and Arches National Park

Since our first day in Canyonlands was not ideal for picture taking due to the fog/smoke, we decided to give Grand View Point another try on our last day.  We slept in per our standards, ate some of our last cereal and made it over to the Island in the Sky entrance of Canyonlands.  When we got to the gate there were a LOT more people there than when we came a few days ago.  Goes to show, coming to the National Park on a weekend even in October (and not before 8) there will be a line. We made it to the end of scenic drive, where the Grand View Point Trail starts and there were only a few parking spaces left but we were able to get one with no issues.  On the drive in, I could tell the park was still experiencing some haze from the nearby fires.  I swear yesterday it didn’t look bad when over at the Needles section of the park…wind, elevation?  Either way, we started off on the mile hike to the actual point of the canyon to see this ‘grand view.’

Grand View

As you can see, it was still hazy (heavy editing to remove some of the haze) but honestly still worth the hike. We sat at the end of the trail for 15-20 minutes and enjoyed the view.

Our next planned trip in Canyonlands was to actually leave Canyonlands via the Shafer Trail/Road.  This is a road that climbs down the canyon walls and eventually ends in Moab. It was another dirt road ~40 miles long, vehicles are advised to be 4WD and “high clearance” but the trusty 2WD (FrontWD too) Nissan Rogue was up to the challenge.  We only had one 'oh shit' moment where we had to cross a muddy puddle but it turned out to be a nothing-burger.  It was quite interesting driving through the canyon, at points we could even see Dead Horse Point from the bottom.  There was also a pullout for where Thelma and Louise drove their car off the cliff.

Yep, that's the road down... it was skinny

View through the canyon 

The road spit us out at the bottom of the canyon where Dead Horse Point overlooks

3 hours of grueling dirt road can really take it out of you, so when we got back within range of cell towers we put in an order for pizza and salad (Antica Forma again 5/5). We then took that pizza and salad into Arches National Park to eat our late lunch. We drove all the way to the Delicate Arch viewpoint parking lot where there were a few picnic tables.  Yep, Arches has a trail that leads up to Delicate Arch and then two viewing points from below.  These viewing points are really far from the arch, but you can indeed see all of the arch and you can tell it’s Delicate arch but again its really far away.  I can understand why folks don’t make the hike 1) parking on this Saturday was nuts for the hike and 2) it’s a haul up the side of that hill, it’s not for the weak thighed. 

Delicate from afar

We finished our day on the Park Avenue Trail, it was just a nice walk up from the Courthouse Formation up in between a set of sandstone walls.  It was a nice finish to a helluva trip in Utah. 

Sheep Rock

Three Gossips

View down Wall Street

Now for some thoughts on the parks, cause multiple people have asked (or will ask) which was your favorite? 

1. Canyonlands - I really didn't expect to be wow-ed as much as I was by this park. Of the 5 parks, I would say it is the second to last in notoriety and before we arrived I really did not know what to expect.  Of course I had heard of Mesa Arch, and even with that I thought that arch was actually in Arches National Park. So, why is it number 1?  There's something special about sitting at the rim of the canyon and hearing nothing but the wind blowing and looking out for miles and miles. And just when you think the park is just a one trick show you can visit the Needles sector and it is nothing like the Island in the Sky sector, so different it was just other worldly. Rebe may have a different opinion on what's number 1, but this place is special.
2. Zion - I really wanted this to be number 1, but maybe it was the hype train that everyone is on for this park. Do not misunderstand, this place is worthy of its heavenly name and it contains stunning views everywhere it just... to me, it felt small.  It has the "wow" factor but not the "geez, this is GRAND" factor that Canyonlands, Yosemite or Denali have.  Still a top 5 park for me for sure, just not #1 in Utah. 
3. Bryce Canyon - This place I think lives up to the hype, it is great and not OVER-hyped like Zion.  Sadly it is a bit of a one trick park and not truly diverse enough for a two day stay as the main attractions can be seen in one full day with some work. I do like that you can get up close and hike through the canyon itself, granted it is some work to get back out but well worth the effort. 
4. Arches - How many arches do you want to see in a day?  Cause that's ALL you're going to see. This place has some really cool arches, and these are definitely worth being protected and seen.  Maybe if the Fiery Furnace was not closed I would have a different opinion on this park but up against the other parks it's a 4th place finish for Arches. 
5. Capitol Reef - Geology-wise this place is the coolest, all the layers that are exposed due to being pushed up and then eroded. I do not think this park gets the love it deserves because there is not a big WOW point of what you are supposed to see.   1-3 on the list have big canyon like features and Arches has well... arches and the Reef is a low running mountain range with multiple strata of earth uplifted sideways. Interesting no doubt and the human history of the area is also a very unique feature of Capitol Reef but sadly it can't compete with the other 5 parks.