Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef may not have the “wow” factor that some of the other parks in Utah have, but I can’t think of one negative thing about my experience here. The scenery was beautiful, the history was engaging, and the rangers were some of the friendliest that I’ve come across.

It is a pretty place to go but there are better places to spend your time in this neck of the woods. Try Zions or Bryce Canyon instead.

We took the Burr Trail road down into Capitol Reef, Waterpocket Folds, deep desert and the sun going down. We parked the truck, hiking around, we were up on a hillside and then it was dark, no moon. Listening to the night, we sat for awhile.

Then… we heard barking sounds way off to our right, below us in the darkness. The sounds were coming right towards us! The sounds of several creatures barking and yipping and running towards us as we sat frozen and silent in half-wonder, half-fear. The sounds came closer and closer, then passed below us at the bottom of the hillside, about 30 feet away. The sounds continued, trailing off into the darkness until we couldn’t hear them anymore.

Finally we spoke. “Wow.”

A few weeks ago, I had a particularly bad day at work. I went for a walk around Pioneer Square to take a break. There was a park ranger working the desk of the gift shop at the Goldrush National Historic park. He said that this was his pick for the best of the national parks — and I’d never even heard of it!

Apparently there’s a mix of natural beauty, indian ruins, and heirloom fruit trees from original settlers who nestled into the valley.

This is definitely on my list!

Very wonderful place.. I wan to go back.