We drove into Capitol Reef National Park in the early evening on day eight of our roadtrip. In all honesty, we didn't know what to expect from this park. We added a decent amount of driving to put it into our loop and we'd heard mixed thoughts about it. What did we think? It was one of our favorite days of the trip!
The first place we stopped was a small boardwalk along a cliff face that had numerous petroglyphs on it - so cool!
The sun was going down and we were tired, so we opted for a sunset drive along the scenic route through the park. Despite it being beautiful out (and a weekend night!) we only passed three other cars on the whole drive.
The next morning we hit the trails! We started out by hiking most of the Cohab Canyon trail and detouring up the hills to see an overlook of the town of Fruita. The rock formations towered above us in the most interesting shapes and sizes!
After our first hike, we stopped at the Gifford Homestead for one of their famous pies. We paired it with their homemade ice cream and called it lunch!
Our next hike was Grand Wash. This trail was flat and easy, and we loved the towering giant walls above us.
The drive out was just as beautiful. Capitol Reef was named for the "reef" looking mountains in the park. I don't think it's hard to see why from this photo!
We loved our day in Capitol Reef and were a little bummed we hadn't planned more time for this park! It was much quieter and emptier than the other parks we visited, and I think that's one of the reasons we enjoyed it so much. Mike & I both agree that a tour of Utah's parks is not complete without a stop at this gem!
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