Visible from just outside the Visitor Center, the cragged hunk of ochre-colored Wingate sandstone known as “the Castle” is one of Capitol Reef National Park’s iconic landmarks. The monument’s blocky façade—the only surface seen by the vast majority of visitors—disguises a far more rugged northern face, an eroded cluster of spindly fins and needles. An …
Continue reading The Castle Trail (Capitol Reef National Park, UT)
Spring Canyon—a winding gorge that cuts roughly east-west through Capitol Reef National Park—is traditionally segmented into two parts: a lengthy upper section beginning outside the park’s western boundary and a shorter, narrower lower portion that spits out at the Fremont River. Visitors with limited time should prioritize Lower Spring Canyon, which boasts some of the …
Continue reading Upper Spring Canyon (Capitol Reef National Park, UT)
One of a half-dozen hikes taking off from Capitol Reef National Park’s north-south Notom-Bullfrog Road, the Red Canyon Trail leads to an impressive amphitheater of scarlet-colored Wingate sandstone walls. Rocky promontories in the Wingate, similar in appearance to the celebrated “Needles” of Canyonlands National Park, conceal impressive secrets, including an impressive double arch requiring a …
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Three miles east of Capitol Reef National Park’s western boundary, the Chimney Rock Trail is the first of the park’s hikes reached by east-bound travelers on Utah’s Highway 24. While the highlight of the 3.6-mile stem-and-loop is the rock itself, a lengthy stretch atop 500-foot-high Mummy Cliff affords excellent views of much, much more. On …
Continue reading Chimney Rock Trail (Capitol Reef National Park, UT)
There is perhaps no better word to describe the hike to the top of Meeks Mesa than epic. Though the 2.2-mile trail lies just outside the western boundary of Capitol Reef National Park (it is on Fishlake National Forest land), it is arguably equally as, if not more, scenic—and the strenuous climb of more than …
Continue reading Cooks Mesa and Meeks Mesa (Fishlake National Forest, UT)
Live and Let Hike 