Capitol Reef NP

Always be skeptical of a Campground Full sign. We left Ruby’s Best Western RV park Sunday without a definite spot to stay the night. We had a spot reserved in Capitol Reef NP for Monday through recreation.gov but they were supposedly full Sunday. We went to the campground host and asked, found out they had 3 open sites? One of them was the same spot we had for Monday (tonight). Same story tomorrow, leaving for Canyonlands NP without a place to camp, let’s hope they will have a few open spots.

Capitol Reef is roughly 5X the size of Bryce Canyon. Rugged cliffs, sparse vegetation and cold, it got down into the 20’s last night. The park only opened March 1 but there are lots of people here. We went to the waterfold today, a 100 mile shear cliff that is the reef in the park’s name. The early pioneers likened it to a barrier reef as it prevented them from traveling, like a reef blocks a ship. There are several narrow gorges where the rare rain storm washes through the cliff. Pioneers and the Indians before them used these washes to travel through. The park gets 10 inches of precipitation a year, but the occasional summer thunderstorm is dangerous. There is no soil here, just rock and sand so the water doesn’t soak in at all, just runs off, when it hits the waterfold, the cliff, it flows until it reaches one of these gaps. The water level can get several feet high in minutes.

In case you’re wondering. The Capitol part of the park’s name comes from the resemblance of the park’s major mountain peak to the US capitol dome.

We also hiked the Freemont river trail and the Hickman arch trail.

Eating right now at a triple D, and roadfood.com place, Curry Pizza Palace in Bicknell Utah, using their internet. The pizzas are naan bread with indian toppings. We had half chicken masala and half butter chicken. I couldn’t tell the two halves apart, Peggy, who is a super taster could. Both were good. Wish us luck, 3 inches of snow tonight, and tomorrow we move on to Canyonlands, then Arches, then Mesa Verde, if all goes as planned.