In the depths of winter, aka January, sometimes you have got to get out. COIVD was having a sudden and serious uptick that we didn’t really appreciate until after we got home. More on that later.
I needed to get out, badly. The kids had school, it is still COVID times, and so the things we could do and the places we could go were limited. While working on family goals this past week I came across lots of local parks and places to visit that are amazing for weekend trips.
On Wednesday, I preposed the trip to my family. They agreed, I booked the hotel, and we were set to jet. We packed our bags on Thursday night, and we off on the road on Friday after school.
We got to the hotel at 6:30 that night. BUT everything was closed in town. We had to drive 20 minutes back out of town once we were checked in to get dinner, and then food for the next couple of days. That was super frustrating. The only place open was called Curry Pizza. It was a weird amalgamation of pizza and Indian food. Spoiler alert: I destroyed Karl’s digestive system for the next two days and his farts made flowers wilt for miles around. When we were done with food, and back at the hotel, we ran straight to the pool. The whole place was super run down. Still, it was fun to have the place almost totally to ourselves. The place was a ghost town!
First thing Saturday morning we were up, had the weird continental breakfast, which had NO hot anything. The kids were happy with the muffins, and I had some oat meal. I had to go out to the lobby and find the hot water for the tea to make it.
And we were off! First stop, of course was the visitors center.
We got to the hotel at 6:30 that night. BUT everything was closed in town. We had to drive 20 minutes back out of town once we were checked in to get dinner, and then food for the next couple of days. That was super frustrating. The only place open was called Curry Pizza. It was a weird amalgamation of pizza and Indian food. Spoiler alert: I destroyed Karl’s digestive system for the next two days and his farts made flowers wilt for miles around. When we were done with food, and back at the hotel, we ran straight to the pool. The whole place was super run down. Still, it was fun to have the place almost totally to ourselves. The place was a ghost town!
While at the visitors center we watched a 18 minute video called Watermak, all about the millions of years of creation that caused the park to look like it does today. Capitol Reef is what is called a “Water Pocket Fold” and was created from millions of years of sediment, being pushed up by tectonic plates for millions of years, then being worn down by erosion for millions of years. It was a cool introduction to the park, and the places we would visit.
We started our visit down the 8 mile scenic route. After watching the video about the formation of the part, every boulder we passed left us guessing about how it got there. As we drove past this large rock Lucas wanted to stop and see it. He called it “Cow Rock.” It seemed to hold all the different parts of the park. It had a water pocket, and erosion, and had fallen seemingly from far above from some event long ago.
It was fun to see the kids brimming over with curiosity and imagination.
After driving down the road for a while, stopping as we liked, we made our way to Capitol Gorge hike.
The pictures just don’t really encapsulate how HUGE everything is. The hike led us down a huge canyon. I felt so insignificant and small in there. All the different formations and layers and sand. We found a piece of petrified wood. Found a little lady bug as we were admiring erosion resistant iron, and even stumbled upon the petroglyphs.
It was easy to get nowhere fast. There was just so much to see and consider. We were just the next in many people who had been here over many many years. Here were some early 19th centry climbers carved their names:
We were all getting cold! The weather was not too clod, but down there in the shadows of the canyon we lost about 20 degrees. So the day was in the mid 40s, in the canyon it was in the mid 20s. When we found a patch of sun we were so happy!
We were all getting really cold, so we decided to head back to the car to warm up. Some of the Pioneer Registry wall had the name HITE on it!
Our second Hike of Saturday was another canyon hike: The Grand Wash. A Ranger told us there were cool narrows through this trail, but honestly, The Capitol Gorge Trail was better.
Something that it did have that was nuts, was old Uranium mines! There were also a bunch of fun rock formations to climb around in.
After we got back from that hike, we headed over to the old pioneer school house. It was interesting, they even had a cool recording of a former teacher. Then we went to a ranger talk geology talk, and learned more about the water pocket fold. We learned lots about the history of the geology there.
After the ranger talk, we headed towards some of the overlooks of the park. It was a this point my back started to hurt, and I was having a hard time keeping up with my ambitious family. The kids happily ran around the cliffs seeking views and dirt to roll around on. I of course was having a cow about all the steep cliff my tripping prone son was running around, so I as on HIGH alert. We thankfully survived.
As the golden hour set in, all of the red rock began to glow.
We checked out chimney Rock, and then headed over to Sunsent Point. A short hike, to the rim.
We could see just the top of Castle Rock, and a mountain top in the distance.
After the sun set, we went back into town, grabbed dinner, and went to the pool. An evening of soaking in hot water helped my back feel mostly better. A night in that bed again, didn’t help much.
The next morning we were up bright and early. We watched a BYU devotional for church, packed up, and drove back into the park.
Our first stop was the parks where Mule Deer stay, and where one of the oldest trees I have ever seen lived. After that we went to check out the petroglyphs on Highway 24.
We headed up to the Hillman Bridge hike. we saw the Capitol domes, from which the park takes it’s name. We were almost going to bail here. When we were checking out the petroglyphs it was 26 degrees. The kids were freezing, and we were really fir the first time thinking a hiking vacation in early January was a bad idea. BUT, we talked to the kids, and said we would give it a try, and if it was too cold once we were up in the sun, we would head back to the car. THANKFULLY, once we were the short distance up to the top, things got much for comfortable, not balmy, but in the mid 40s which was much more comfortable.
The hike had these cool trail guides, with mile markers and information to learn as we went. One of our favorite stops along the way was this cool little bridge and what seemed like a room. We could imagine people from all over the world sitting here. And ancient people too.
Then we made it to the Hillman Arch!
We stuck around for a little while, took some pictures, and just took in the view. Look at these faces!!!
My babies. The light in there was lovely, and the cuties were excited to climb around and have a look.
Better lighting for a family pic from the other side.
After the cold hike, we had lunch of bologna sandos at the car and then headed out of the park. We wanted to make a few last view stops on our way out…
And yes, we FINALLY made it to the park sign pic, last thing we did on our trip to the park. I love these kids. The experience made me want to do so many more of these little trips. Maybe that will be the legacy of 2022, lots of weekend trips.