Dinosaur Hill Trail (McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area, CO)

Dinosaur Hill Trail, McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area, September 2020 In western Colorado’s Grand Valley, between the modest town of Fruita and splendid Colorado National Monument, lies one of the most famous dinosaur dig sites in the United States. It was here in 1901, on a multi-hued hill composed of rock of the Morrison formation, …

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Return to Capitol Reef National Park

Grand Wash, Capitol Reef National Park, August 2020 After more than five years away, yours truly finally had the chance to return to Capitol Reef National Park in central Utah, where I spent a lovely winter as a seasonal interpretive volunteer. Having effectively already covered all the hikes in the park in previous posts (see …

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Top 10 Hikes in Capitol Reef National Park’s “Frontcountry”

After spending four months as a seasonal interpretive volunteer at Capitol Reef National Park, I have completed a whopping 46 blog posts for Live and Let Hike about Capitol Reef, including 42 detailed descriptions of the park’s trails and routes. Alas, despite wishful thinking, your average visitor to Capitol Reef is not likely to research …

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Cohab Canyon Trail (Capitol Reef National Park, UT)

Some places have great stories, and popular hiking destination Cohab Canyon in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park is exactly one of those places. For the Mormon faith’s remaining polygamists in Utah, the late 1800s were a trying time: the state had just consented to the Edmunds Act, which bans the practice. Federal law enforcement officials …

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Fremont River Trail (Capitol Reef National Park, UT)

Capitol Reef National Park’s Fremont River Trail, named for the perennial stream it follows, ends atop a windswept hill providing sweeping views of the Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long wrinkle in the Earth’s crust accented by a panoply of colors. The first third of the hike traverses a trail that is wide, flat, and accessible …

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