2007 05 14 – Big Trip – Day 14 – Capitol Reef National Park

Fruita Campground, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Tachometer – 1525 miles

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Panorama Point off Highway 24, Capitol Reef National Park

When we got up this morning we were still the only RV in the campground but at least the “grocery” store was open and I paid the nice lady $18 for the night’s stay. We drove up Highway 12 for another hour or so through great views, reaching a height of 9600 feet (2900 meter) at one viewpoint.

We then took highway 24 West and entered Capitol Reef. This is a long and narrow park North to South along a geological water pocket. I am not sure exactly what this pocket is, but the views are awesome. The reddest rocks and mountains we have seen (Zion and Bryce are pinker). We learned from yesterday’s campground miss, and first thing we did when we got to the park is drive a few miles to Fruita where the campground is and register for a spot. We parked in the spot and had a nice lunch in the shade. The kids ran around the grass and had fun.

Fruita was a Mormon settlement ages ago and there are still some edifices like the school, some guy’s barn and house, and the orchards these folks planted, one of which is the site of our campground. Had we come later in the season, we would have been able to pick some of the fruit.

After lunch we drove down the park’s scenic drive, the last mile was a dirt road that led us to a short hike in Capitol Gorge. We walked through a canyon and reached a spot where the Mormon settlers passing by would etch their name and date on the canyon wall. I took a picture of a signature from 1888. Neat.

We drove back to the campground for dinner and after getting the kids ready for bed we drove to a spot called Panorama Point for some lovely sunset photos.

We are now back in the campground and everyone is sleeping. I think I’ll join them.

Good night,

-Hemi

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Big Trip, North America RV 2007, Utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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