Yet another amazing day and adventure has come to an end! And I'm no worse for the wear. I "suffered" my first injury of my trip today. I have a tiny blister on my little toe of my right foot but already have it wrapped in a band-aid but other than that, I'm good! I guess I can push through the pain.......LOL!! And if a little blister is the only "injury" to report, then I'm pretty happy considering the amount of walking and hiking that I've done over the past week with still another full week to go!
Today started with another really nice breakfast at my hotel in Moab this morning before hitting the road again and heading towards Capitol Reef National Park. It only took about 2 1/2 hours from Moab to reach the outskirts of Capitol Reef.
Not long after passing the sign announcing you're arrival at Capitol Reef, I made my 1st stop of the day at the North entry to the Grand Wash Trail. It was still pretty early in the morning and a brisk 50 degrees so not exactly perfect weather for shorts and polo shirt but the day promised to warm up quickly.
The Grand Wash was really cool and I took allot of pictures. You basically park and start hiking down the trail deep into what is a dried up riverbed through the canyons. You can see from my pictures the grandeur of the rock walls rising up from the dried river bed. I probably walked back a couple of miles getting pictures as the scenery seemed to change at every turn. Finally, I turned around and headed back out since I knew I had so much more to see today.
After leaving the Grand Wash Trail, I headed further into the park and came across another turnoff that had petroglyphs carved on the face of the canyon wall. You can make out some of the figures in my pictures below. As I mentioned previously, I find this kinda stuff fascinating knowing they were created many, many years ago and still exist for us to see today.
From here, I passed the Visitor Center and then headed South down what is called the Capitol Reef Scenic Drive. There are many stopping points along the way for getting more great views and pictures. This lead to my next stop which was the other end of the Grand Wash Trail. I parked here and started hiking again to get more pictures from this section of the park. It did not disappoint as it also lead me to more fantastic views from the bottom looking up the huge canyon walls.
After this stop, I continued further down the Scenic Drive and making stops along the way before I eventually reached the end which lead to a dirt road called the Capitol Gorge Road. A very narrow and winding road leading further and further back into the canyons and to more areas where you can park and then hike even further back. So, as I parked and hiked, I came upon another area with petroglyph carvings on the canyon wall and also some sections where people had carved their names back in 1911 and another section where visitors from 1921 had etched their names in the wall. It's alittle hard to make out but if you look very closely, you can see them in my photos.
By this time, I had been in Capitol Reef for most of the day today. As I made my way back North on the Scenic Drive, I exited the opposite direction heading towards Torrey, Utah, where I would be staying tonight. The next section I arrived at in the park was called Panorama Point. As the name says, this was a great point to step out and get a birds eye view of much of the canyons and rock formations all around us. Just beautiful views from this vantage point.
Next location after Panorama Point was Chimney Rock. Chimney Rock was yet another interesting rock formation which included a trail that you could hike and go further back into the canyon. At this point in my day, I decided I had enough hiking for the day as my first causality of my trip (my previously mentioned blister) was bothering me enough to stop there. But I did get some great shots of Chimney Rock.
After leaving Chimney Rock, my next stop for the day was Torrey, UT. The town literally sits just outside of Capitol Reef National Park so you can image the beautiful views from this town. But rather than imagine, take a look at some of the pictures I shot tonight right after I arrived.
Once I got in town, I actually stopped at one of very few restaurants I could find since it was already past lunch time. Also, I was still too early to check-in to my hotel. But as it turned out, Slackers Burger Joint makes a pretty darn good Bacon Cheeseburger and Chocolate Malt. I know because I had to hang out there for a couple of hours so I eventually got around to having the malt too while I waited. This of course meant that dinner was going to be an afterthought so for that, I ended up settling for a salad (again) which was really all I wanted.
Well as you can see, today was indeed another very full day. And tomorrow promises to be just as full as I leave Torrey and head to Bryce Canyon National Park and then Dixie National Forest before stopping for the evening in Cedar City, UT.
I'm enjoying this trip immensely and continue to look forward to discovering new parks and new sites and new destinations each and everyday. Still have Bryce tomorrow, then Zion, Glen Canyon before I head into Arizona and revisit some of my old favorites like Grand Canyon, Sedona, Prescott, and several other stops after that as I start to make my way back towards DFW next week.
So thanks again for following and sharing in my adventures as I continue to bring more updates and photos at the end of each day.
Sites During Drive From Moab to Capitol Reef National Park
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