Capitol Reef National Park

This morning I had time for a short run before packing up and getting on the road to our next National Park.  We bid farewell to our little log cabin, one of the nicest places we had stayed thus far on our road trip, and drove past the multiple Ruby enterprises on our way to Moab, Utah.  

 
Signs along the road notified us that this was open range, and a little farther along we saw the reason why, slowing to wait for some cows to lazily cross to where the grass was greener.  This was not the road for an 80-mile-per-hour speed limit.

We had been seeing signs for Capitol Reef National Park the past day or two, but it was not on our itinerary and we were unsure how far away it might be from our route.  But this morning we discovered that only a slight detour onto pleasant two-lane Highway 24 would take us directly through the place.  This was the first of three unplanned National Parks that we would discover along the way.

 

I had been wondering about the unusual name, and discovered that early settlers to the area likened the white domes of some of the rock formations to the white dome of the Capitol building in Washington.  The settlers and prospectors, many from a nautical background, thought the Waterpocket Fold (a geological feature) resembled a reef, according to the National Park Service.  Thus Capitol Reef.  

 

 The rock formations were every bit as spectacular as what we had seen in Zion the day before.  One of the areas was called Cathedral Valley and it was a good description.

Some of the formations seemed to us to have images, not clearly carved faces like Mount Rushmore, but more imaginative figures.  We both thought this rock face looked like a soldier wearing a helmet talking to a woman. 

 

Some of the roads had signs warning of flash floods, but they were not the kind of roads we would have taken our Mini on anyway.
 

We stopped at a very nice Visitor Center, although it was smaller than the one in Zion National Park.  This Park is off the beaten track and little visited, but we were glad that we had taken the extra time to drive through it.  "Off the beaten track" is the purpose of a road trip!  There was a scenic loop drive, a campsite, and an old homestead exhibit behind the Visitor Center, and also some "you pick" fruit trees in an orchard.  We stopped there for out picnic and then picked some apples.

A small herd of deer were ahead of us, helping themselves to the windfall apples.

 

Leaving Capitol Reef, we passed some interesting roadside attractions on Highway 24.  We do love roads like this one!  Interstates should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

 

Finally, we crossed the Colorado River and arrived in Moab.  The place we were staying was the Gonzo Inn, a name which had intrigued me since Martha had made the reservation.  It brought to mind the “gonzo journalism” of Hunter S. Thompson.  It was billed as “a one-of-a-kind condo-style boutique hotel in Moab, Utah, that offers a unique desert chic vibe,” and it was indeed a little unconventional.  But it was comfortable and we were able to sleep with the screened windows open on this cool evening.
 

Serendipity again provided a good place to eat dinner just a hundred yards or so from the Gonzo:   Fiesta Mexicana, specializing in tacos and Margaritas.  We sampled some of both and they were muy sabrosa!