USA 2005

Monday 1st August 2005 - Capitol Reef National Park

It rained in the morning. French toast for breakfast. Happily the rain stopped fairly quickly and we set off for our first hike of the day at Chimney Rock. The hike we had selected was a 3.5 mile hike, up from the main valley floor to the top of one of the cliffs adjacent to a pinnacle of rock called Chimney Rock and then down the other side and back to our start point via a different valley. 3.5 miles might not sound a lot, but with the steep climb to the top (at about 1000 feet) and the altitude of about 6000 feet above sea level, it was hard work! It was also quite hot. Martin's rucksac contained a gallon of water, biscuits raisons though so with occassional rest breaks to refuel, we were soon at the top. And the walk was excellent, with truly beautiful sights at every turn. The rock formations in this point of the park exhibit all the main layers and colours and from the top you could see the Waterpocket Fold, the main geological feature of the area. Whilst walking we saw lizards, White-Tailed Antelope Ground Squirrels and possibly a Least Chipmunk or two as well as various desert plants, including one we christened the Alien Plant as it really looked like it was Extra Terrestrial. In fact it's called The Desert Trumpet. We also saw millions of ants, including one super-strong ant which we took a photo of.

After our Chimney Rock hike, we returned to the camp ground and had lunch.

At 2 p.m. we went to the visitor centre for a ranger talk on the geology of Capitol Reef. As with all of the ranger talks it was very interesting and informative. Amongst other things, we learned that the white/light grey layer of rock was the result of ash from distant volcanoes being deposited and that the black vertical stripes we had seen and liked in the sandstone cliffs opposite the petroglyphs were the result of chemicals being leached out of the vegetation at the top of the cliff.

Next, we drove to the start of another, shorter hike, to a feature called Hickman Bridge. Hickman Bridge is a natural sandstone bridge, about 20 feet off the ground and about 30 feet wide, spanning a (currently) dry river bed. The rocks in this area are different to those at Chimney Rock. They are much whiter and many have dome-like tops. The domes are the reason for the "Capitol" part of the area's name, as they reminded early pioneers of the buildings in the US capital city. The "Reef" part is because many of these pioneers were sailors and to them, any barrier to travel was called a reef.

Hickman Bridge was worth the walk. Hopefully the photos give some idea of this. On the way back to the car we encountered some particularly fearless Chukar Quails.

Next, we set off in the car on the "scenic drive". This is a 20 mile round trip through the south of the park. On the way we took a couple of detours off the paved road and into 4 wheel drive territory. One was down a trail called "Grand Wash". This took us to a feature called the Cassidy Arch, named after Butch Cassidy who apparently used to hideout in the gorge. This was near Echo Cliff. Together, these features made for excellent echoes. Jack and Martin experimented with different sounds. Jack's were especially amusing. The other unpaved road we went down was Capitol Gorge. At the end was the Pioneers Register and The Tanks. The first was an area where early pioneers had etched their names into the rocks and the latter is the name of a series of large cavaties in the rock which are usualy full of rain water. We didn't actually go and see either as this required a further hike of a couple of miles.... and we'd had enough exercise for one day!

We returned the the camp ground and had some pasta for dinner, played some ball games and relaxed. After this we drove west and then up an unpaved road towards a place called Sunset Point, which is reached by walking the last half a mile. We didn't see a sunset but we did see some outstanding beauty.

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