Capitol Reef National Park

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We spent a long, glorious day in Capitol Reef hiking and scrambling up and down gorges, canyons, and trails to natural bridges. Capitol Reef has more OHMIGOD moments per square foot than any other landscape I have ever experienced, and words and images probably won’t do it justice. So I’ll forgo most of the words and just throw some images out there.

The centerpiece—literally and figuratively—of Capitol Reef is the Waterpocket Fold, a 100 mile long, multi-layered, multi-colored ridge of sandstone of various vintages along with shales, silt, and even some black andesite lava boulders that originated in nearby mountains and were dragged here by glaciers. It will show up in a lot of these images.

Gotta come back here one of these soon days.

So, some images.

Small section of the Waterpocket Fold, now heavily eroded.
More Waterpocket Fold, showing spheroidal erosion typical of the sandstone of the park.
Hiking Capitol Gorge on the way to the Tanks.

Heading up a steep section on the way to the Tanks
Sandstone summit reflecting on one of the Tanks—sinkholes filled with water. This one is at least five feet deep.
The Grand Wash, a narrow canyon that must be avoided when it’s raining or threatening rain due to flash flooding. Not a problem today.
Sandstone in Capitol Gorge sculpted by the wind.
Sandstone sculpting.
Black andesite lava boulders carried here by glaciers.
Hickman Bridge, a steep mile or so above the valley floor.

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