Day 21: Capitol Reef National Park

Today we took our time leaving since we loved Ruby’s Inn Campground and we didn’t have far to go. First, we did one more hike in Bryce Canyon to the Mossy Cave and waterfall. It was short and the waterfall was beautiful. We drove along Hogback Road which is well-known I guess, but travels along very high, narrow roads, has beautiful views, and gets to almost 10,000 ft. elevation! Next, we stopped at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument visitor center, but it’s very elusive and there isn’t much accessible here despite it being a huge area. We decided to move on, but as we did, a couple commented on Ella’s Celtics hat (again) and we found out that they’re from Plymouth, Massachusetts and she was a teacher. We had a lot in common so we chatted for a while and shared our similar trip experiences. 

Then we went to our campground at Capitol Reef National Park. There was road construction so we couldn’t get a picture by the main sign but we got one at the visitor center instead. We decided to hike the Capitol Gorge trail. It brought us down the whole scenic drive and then onto an unpaved road between the rocks. The trailhead was at the end of the dirt road. It was about 2.5 miles and easy except for the heat as it was 95 degrees. We took lots of water and found shade along the way. It was so neat to walk between breaks in the huge rock reef. We saw lots of petroglyphs from thousands of years ago on the walls and then saw the Petroglyph Registry from the late 1800’s from the pioneers and early ranchers who scratched their names and dates in the rock. We decided to continue to the “Tanks” too which is a natural pool carved out of the rock up above.  It was kind of gross water but we saw lots of tadpoles swimming in it. After this hike, we went to Sunset Trail and Gooseneck Point to see beautiful views of the park. Then we went down further and along the side of the Fremont River where you could see more petroglyphs on the rocks! They were from the Puebloans and the regional Fremont people. It was really neat! 

The campground was nice, but simple. There are orchards everywhere and you can pick fruit when it’s in season. There are deer everywhere too. They graze the orchards and the campground freely. It’s also funny because on our drive, we went through many free range cattle areas so we came up on cows on the side of the road. Unfortunately, though, the heat didn’t subside until late in the night so we all struggled to sleep in the heat since there was no electricity. Luckily this is our last site like that so we got up early and headed to Arches and Canyonlands, while on the lookout for a much-needed grocery store.