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 …
Continue reading Top 10 Hikes in Capitol Reef National Park’s “Frontcountry”
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)
Recording roughly 700,000 visitors per year—many of whom had never heard of the place before stumbling upon it—Capitol Reef National Park is much less touted that in its famous neighbors: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Zion. The reward of Capitol Reef? A much higher likelihood of solitude. Visiting during the winter months almost guarantees such …
Peering down at Highway 24 or the Visitor Center from Rim Overlook or atop Navajo Knobs will give you a very different perspective of Capitol Reef National Park than the average visitor. The predominant view in the park is to look up—up at canyon walls, up at ancient petroglyphs, up at the Wingate sandstone cliffs …
Continue reading Rim Overlook and Navajo Knobs Trail (Capitol Reef National Park, UT)
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