On the road again, we just can’t wait to be on the road again! The morning light treats us to spectacular scenery. We are traveling through some amazing high hills strewn at their base with the rock rubble shredded from the cliffs above. The cliffs are very white sandstone carved by the elements to create some amazing shapes and structures. Some parts are similar to the Badlands with mounds of grey silt looking rivulets streaming down the sides. These are actually petrified sand dunes. On the seemingly flat valley floor the ice capped river snakes its way across the landscape, its colour a lovely turquoise reflected by the white sediment washed down from above. In parts the naked deciduous trees, cottonwoods I believe, giving a ghostly atmosphere, surround the river. There are higher mountains with a tabletop plateau, their cliffs showing the changing colours in layers through the ages. Just spectacular and this is just while we are traveling along the road.
This drive leads us into the Grand Staircase Escalante area, also home to large ranches complete with their cattle and strong hardy looking horses. Although there are sunny blue skies the ice on the water belies the temperatures the stock around here would have to cope with. What more will this day divulge?
The landscape opens wide as we climb and descend a more gentle undulating area, with surprise gorges carved into the ground. We pass over a hill and around a bend and the landscape spreads a magnificent view before us of the Escalante River Basin. It is a huge area of limestone gulches and chasms that we are about to descend into and cross. It is surrounded with some of the mountains of the Henry Range and the Navajo mountains that help to feed this waterway that feeds to the mighty Colorado River. Every turn provides another vista of the most interesting limestone formations. As we take a deep descent we stop to view the gorgeous gorges, turning more red as we go deeper seeing the ribbon of the river snaking along the floor. This river provides a lifeline to all the wildlife that calls this arid landscape home, from mountain lions to otters and many species of birds.
How rugged this world was for the new pioneers to the area, a most inhospitable land that only the bravest must have explored. No snaking bitumen road winding an easy trail across this land back in those days.
We rise up to traverse along the very top of the ridge, a road with no safety rails, and a nasty end if you leave the road. We traverse Buffalo Mountain and as our altitude grows we start to see patches of snow and mighty Aspen and Ponderosa Pine trees dot the slopes. We come across what must be a Thanksgiving tradition for a group of about 8 cars that are choosing and chopping down their Christmas trees, not sure if this is legal or not.
Stopping for lunch atop the mountain is a reward of one of the most jaw dropping views of the plateau, the orange ridges with their tabletops and beyond the grey silted tabletop slopes. The plateau is doted with the odd body of water shinning a steel blue amongst the dark green Aspen. Words do not do this view justice, a body of land that was the last chartered in the USA late 1800’s. It is certainly a treat to see this world.
We finally reach our destination for this day and enter Capitol Reef National Park. This is another environment similar to what we’ve seen in Utah, yet unique to its immediate surrounds. It got its name as a Barrier Reef to the early settlers and became Capitol after a rock formation within the park was likened to the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. This park is known as a Waterpocket Fold or literally a wrinkle in the earth that stretches for over 100 miles, creating a long narrow park.
The formations are just incredible, in some places looking like coral sponges and others like Swiss cheese and all through with ever-changing colours. There is an ever-present “reef” of a yellow/grey colour that dominates throughout the rock formations, laid down many millions of years ago.
This reef caused much damage in the 1950’s and 1960’s when it was decided this could be rich in Uranium. This began a rush of mining throughout this National Monument, though damage was done it was lucky that there was not enough uranium to make a profit and mining was ceased. This is a spectacular park that has once again been kept very accessible with views of so many highlights that are just a short walk away from the road. We particularly enjoy a long drive through Cohab Canyon showing so much diversity and incredible beauty. Every corner you turn is just fantastic.
This is a park very rich in history, other than the infamous uranium. There are the Petroglyphs, for our Aussie friends – rock art, thought to date back to between 600 and 1300 AD and drawn by the Fremont Indians descendants of the Archaic Indians that have roamed this region for many thousands of years. More recently, in the 1800’s, the Mormons and the ranchers settled this land. Today there is still a flourishing orchard of over 3,000 trees preserved from these pioneering days along with an original homestead, Gifford House.
This park, like many others, has its very own flora and fauna. You can hike for miles should you choose out into the backcountry but for us today a few short hikes are enough. Our day is coming to a close, we head just outside the park to find a free camping spot for the night. We are very lucky to spot a road that takes us to the top of a gorge of sandstone, perfect. It is a chilly night so we expect those frosty windows again, but we are quite cozy under our sleeping bags and doona. This has been a day so jam packed with beauty and it doesn’t end with the setting sun but soon shines bright with the stars and half moon, our parking spot a spectacular sandstone backdrop to the magic of the night skies.
Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album NATIONAL PARKS OF UTAH.
Here We Come World 