Capitol Reef National Park
Personal Notes
This page contains links to our personal notes on camping and hiking within Capitol Reef National Park.
General Overview
We have visited Capitol Reef National Park many times over the years, since our first visit in the summer of 1971. We have enjoyed our stays in the Fruita Campground, with its orchards, mule deer, and chukars, and we have had the opportunity to hike just about every trail within the Park, with the exception of those in the lower Waterpocket Fold section, and in the northern Cathedral Valley and South Desert section.
Capitol Reef is one of our favorite national parks, probably because of its varied colors and wild tilted sandstone formations. But also because of the deep gorges cutting through the "Reef" and the Waterpocket Fold. It's a wild country, with all of the excitement and danger provided by a desert climate surrounded by high plateaus and rising peaks. There is something exciting and new around every bend in a trail, along the Scenic Drive, and down the main gorges. It's one of those places that can take one's breath away when a ray of light cuts through a cloud and illuminates a crimson formation backdropped by white sandstone tilted at an unexpected angle. It's an amazing part of canyon country.
