Capitol Reef National Park

This morning, we left our campsite outside of Bryce National Park and drove the 2.5 hours to Torrey, Utah where we unhitched the trailer and got set up at the Wonderland RV Park. After lunch in the trailer, we drove into Capitol Reef National Park. We made a stop at the visitor center before we headed to the Cassidy Arch Trailhead to start the 3.1-mile roundtrip hike. This was a fun hike that allowed us to get pictures of each other standing on the arch.

Jim standing on top of Cassidy Arch

On our way back from Cassidy Arch, we decided to extend our hike by walking further down the Grand Wash to the section known as "The Narrows".

The canyon was getting narrow!

We finished up the hike to The Narrows and then stopped on our way back to the RV Park for dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

The next day, we drove back into Capitol Reef National Park. Our first stop was the Fruita Schoolhouse and then the Petroglyph Panel. We continued on down the road to the Hickman Bridge Trail. This was a great 1.8-mile round trip hike up to Hickman Bridge.

The Fruita Schoolhouse

The Petroglyph Panel

The Hickman Bridge Trail starts along the Fremont River

The Hickman Bridge

Under the bridge

The trail back down to the parking lot

After our morning hike, we rewarded ourselves with pies from the Gifford House in the Fruita District of Capitol Reef NP.

The Gifford House

Jim enjoyed his apple pie, while I had a mixed berry pie.

The barn on the Gifford Homestead

Once we were finished with our pie, we headed to the end of the Scenic Drive to get to the Capitol Gorge Trail. We didn't hike the whole trail but went far enough to see the Pioneer Panel - the place where the early Mormon settlers carved their names and date into the sandstone.

The Pioneer Panel - signatures were very high up because the settlers would carve into the sandstone while standing on their covered wagons.

We drove back to the RV Park, hitched up to the trailer, and headed for Moab, Utah where we will visit 2 more national parks - Canyonlands and Arches.