Capitol Reef Day 1

Mom planned a weekend to Capitol Reef during the first weekend of March. Everything conspired against us going on this trip, but we made it happen anyway. First, Mom was sick for the week leading up to the trip. Then, Lehi won the state semifinal basketball game despite being behind by 7 points with 55 seconds left. Of course, the Championship Game was Friday night. A massive statewide storm was predicted to blow in. There was even a funeral in Idaho for a member of the Daniels family. Luckily, we pushed through all these obstacles. Mom went to the doctor and got some medicine. Mark and Dad came down late Friday after Lehi won the title, and the funeral was scheduled for Monday when we'd return home. We lost our Friday in southern Utah, but we were looking forward to a full Saturday and Sunday. The storm did blow a lot. We were awake listening to the wind howl for much of the night. It howled through much of our hiking and both scenic drives, too. Fortunately, the precipitation held off.

We woke to a beautiful sunrise.

We got up and moving early. By 8 o'clock we'd finished breakfast and left the small apartment in Torrey. Because of the weather, we wanted to hit our longest hike early. This was a steep one that we'd never done called Chimney Rock. The red rock was really beautiful in the early morning sun, and though there was some serious climbing, we spent much of the hike reminiscing about our favorite vacations, moments, and national parks. The views were gorgeous and so was walking among the red rocks.

This hike was perfect for the morning.

We hiked up above chimney rock.

The views of the park were stunning.

The boys were good troopers on this steep hike.

Mom loved this view right here.

We kept finding other spots to overlook.

Capitol Reef has the steepest walls.

The colors of rock are beautiful, too.

Mom is always bringing up the rear.

We had a lot of hiking to do, and our next one was Hickman Bridge. This hike is also steep, but quite a bit shorter. Both trails were almost empty, in sharp contrast to when we had to wait our turn to take photos at the natural bridge on our last visit. It was much nicer, and though we had aching knees by the time we got back to the van. Mom made lunch in the van, and we drove down the road to our third, and final hike.

We also stopped at the petroglyphs.

The kids were excited to find Mike Wasowski. 

It was so windy! We were really bundled up!

We love this little bridge on the way to Hickman Bridge.

Dad made sure to get lots of photos of Mom this trip.

Everyone on top of the small natural bridge.

Hickman Bridge is a great hike.

We were lucky to have the bridge all to ourselves.

Grand Wash is the most famous hike in Capitol Reef, and we'd done it before, but we enjoyed the walk up the narrow canyon. We were a little slower, but the boys were great, and we finished by around 2 o'clock. By the end of the day, we'd put 10 miles on the pedometers with the other, shorter walks we did in late afternoon.

I love hiking the Grand Wash.

The walls area amazing!

Our boys have loved climbing in the holes since they were little.

This hike was our favorite.

It was a great day!

We drove east out of the park to check out a few scenic spots. The first was at the Mars Desert Research Center. According to Mom's research, this is the site that astronauts train for missions to the moon or Mars. The landscape is mostly flat and there is no life at all. Boulders strewn across the valley floor do look a lot like the surface of another planet. It was a lot like the badlands, but even more barren. Farther along there were purple striped hills that were really pretty in the late afternoon light.

The hills were so cool.

It really felt like another planet.

Only Mom and Dad got out of the car at this stop.

Next, we drove some really ugly roads to a similar viewpoint. The first stop was to see a massive rock structure called Factory Butte. It was a really massive, soaring rock, similar to the Temple of the Sun that we saw on a prior visit. We didn't stay at this stop for long as the wind was whipping up the dust and visibility was low.

After another drive, we came to an overlook called Moonscape Overlook. This was a massive, open valley that stretched out in front of us. It was a straight drop to the gray, rock-strewn floor. Again, it was just an overlook, but it was such unique landscape that it was worth the difficult drive.

The view was stunning!

Once again, only Mom and Dad got out due to the wind.

The boys were excited for their favorite restaurant in this area, which is called Slackers. We had burgers and fries, and then, because they'd been such good sports about the 10 miles hiking in wicked wind, we let them get shakes, too. It was a great Saturday!

We love this spot!