Capitol Reef

Driving east from Bryce, all the sites and advice I read told us to stop by Kodachrome State Park, which sounds great, but turned out to be kind of, meh.  But along the way, we say a sign and pictures for a place called Grosvenor Arch.  It was 11 miles down a dirt road...which became a running theme of the trip.

It's actually a double arch.  Pretty cool.

The drive from Bryce Canyon to our next stop, Capitol Reef National Park takes one through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  Highway 12, which takes you through it is AMAZING.  These pictures don't do it justice.

Onions, caught in a moment of "model" pose!

Capitol Reef is a long, narrow north-south oriented park taking in the length of the Waterford Fold.  We followed the advice of one of the sites I read and entered the park through a southern entrance, along a unpaved road.  This is the orientation of the rocks as we entered.

It's hard to see, but this is the road the drives down the actual fold itself.  It's a steep set of switchbacks!

Onions, post switchbacks.  He's the one who drove it.

At the end of the day, when we finally entered the main section of the park, the sun came out.  Here we are driving into one of the washes.  This is flash flood territory.

At first, after the amazing Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef didn't make much of an impression on us.  But after a while, it grew on us.  It's a subtle amazement....it's beautiful without being flashy.  This is the Egyptian Temple.

This is Capitol Reef at its essence.

Last light along shining on the Waterford Fold of Capitol Reef.

The end of another great day.  On our way to our only expensive meal of the trip, steak for dinner.