Capitol Reef Day 2

We woke up to a surprise on Sunday morning. There were 2 inches of snow piled all around the apartment. Worse, the wind was still blowing steadily with occasional big gusts. We had several stops that we needed to make, but luckily, we done almost all the hiking on Saturday, and most of our day would be spent driving. So, Mom made eggs and bacon, and we got cleaned up and checked out by 10 o'clock.

Our main adventure was driving up scenic Highway 12. We'd never done this stretch of road, and it rose steadily, which made the snow even deeper. Luckily, the roads had been plowed. As we climbed, we looked back over Capitol Reef, and we could see the folds and ridges that make up this national park. The drive was really nice, and when we reached the top of the pass, we could see out forever.

 The overlook views were awesome.

You really could see forever.

Back in town, we picked up Mark's van, and he, Dax, and Seth followed us back into the park. We took a very short hike to Sunset Point. It was windy and cold, but not so nasty as having the sand flung at us the day before. We enjoyed the hike and took plenty of pictures.

The snow on the red rocks was so pretty.

The boys really were good troopers on this trip.

This was honestly the nicest part of the trip. Not much wind.

Seth was even taking his coat off.

This is such a pretty spot in Capitol Reef.

The boys climbed a little bit!

We survived.

We had one more idea for a hike, which required a short drive on a dirt road. We made it easily enough, but the snow was over our shoe tops, so we had lunch at the trailhead instead. Mom made sandwiches and we ate in the vans. Then we started on the way home. It was earlier than we'd have liked, but another storm was rolling in.

Both vans made this trip!

The storm was coming from the west, so we decided to go up through Levan rather than over the mountain to the freeway. This turned out to be a good idea. Still, by the time we reached Gunnison, the snow was really pounding down. It took us a long time, but Mark did a great job driving his van, and we made it without incident. 

It was quite the weekend!