2010 Summer Travels part "the last"

There are two sections of Capitol Reef National Park, creatively called the south section and the north section.  The two sections are separated by highway 24.  In this post we will be traveling in the north section. This is  vast, wild, desolate, lonely, big and beautiful country.  My kind of place.  Even though we were here at the height of the tourist season, we saw a total of two other vehicles all day long.  It is the kind of area that you always carry several gallons of water, extra food and extra gear to spend several days if you break down.  The nearest cell phone service may be 40 miles or more away.

 

 

The mountains in the far background are the Henry Mountains; the last mountain range added to the map of the lower US.

This hill reminds me of a bowl of ice cream.  Of course,  most things remind me of ice cream.

There are strange rock formations called hoodoos.

Can you see the Indian?

The ridge in the background is the northern section of the Waterpocket Fold;  the formation in which the rock layers are folded back over themselves.  Up here in the north it is more eroded than the southern part.

Can you see Pat? 

She is standing on the white shelf in the lower right.

When we left Capitol Reef we traveled Utah Route 12, one of the most scenic roads in the US.  We made our way to St. George, UT where there is a big pickleball tournament every year.  After two weeks there we went to Las Vegas for a few days and finally found our way back to Surprise, AZ.  We put on a lot of miles last summer, saw a lot of interesting stuff and enjoyed every minute of it.  We will probably be here until mid April when we will be off for another  Irwin adventure.

Later

John 

2010 Summer Travels part "almost done" part two

In Capitol Reef National Park and the surrounding area there are hundreds of miles of back country and four wheel drive roads.  I still have not found a rattle in our Jeep that developed on one of these roads.

In every mile there are interesting things to see.  This is a geologic formation called the Waterpocket Fold.  It is a giant fold in the in the rocks that is over one hundred miles long.

There are lots of fun hikes like the one through this canyon.



 

While walking it pays to look down sometimes to see plants that look as if they should not be able to grow in this place.

And some interesting plants grow along the streams

Later

John

2010 Summer Travels part "almost done" part one

We drove across Oregon and traveled part of route 50 in Nevada, said to be the loneliest road in America. We followed route 50 into south central Utah and headed toward Capitol Reef National Park.  Just before the park we drove up into the mountains in the Fish Lake National Forest to see what we could see.  What we found were aspen trees.

Lots of aspen trees

Inside the park we camped in a beautiful valley.  The early settlers planted many fruit trees in this area and the National Park service still maintains the orchards.  They allow you to pick one apple to eat or you can pick a bunch of them and pay for them by the pound.  They use the money to pay for the upkeep of the orchards.

Along the face of the cliffs in the park and all over southern Utah it is possible to find much old rock art left by the early indian cultures.  Some look like space men to me and some are just weird.

I will continue our travels in Capitol Reef National Park in my next post.