Spring Break: Capitol Reef National Park

 Monday morning, the leprechaun brought Megan and Matthew socks and chocolate eggs. We ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel and then headed into the park.

Matthew, Me and U

We stopped by the Visitor's Center to get some info and then headed to the Gifford Homestead for pies and cinnamon rolls.

Deer on the way to the Gifford Homestead.

Megan made fast friends with this horse.

It was predicted to be quite windy on Monday. We decided to hike the Chimney Rock loop since it was not too windy yet.

Chimney Rock from the parking lot.

Me and U on the trail with Chimney Rock behind.

Looking down on Chimney Rock.

Megan, Matthew, Me and U from the Chimney Rock loop.

Me and Megan

U

U and Megan at the junction of the loop.

Wind prediction after the Chimney Rock hike. Initially, the prediction had been for high winds all day but those did not materialize in the morning, as seen on the weather app. The afternoon winds also did not materialize although we did experience a bit of a wind tunnel on our way back from the Pioneer Register.

We drove down the Scenic Drive to the Pioneer Register trail.

Native American petroglyphs

Pioneer Register

This person did his name with bullet holes....

We ate our pies. Me had mixed berry, U had strawberry rhubarb and Megan and Matthew each had an apple pie. They were delicious!

We stopped by the schoolhouse and captured this picture of Me with cherry blossoms.

We went by the petroglyphs off of Highway 24.

We decided to hike to Hickman Bridge since it still was not very windy...

It was a nice hike and I'm glad we did it even though my knees protested on the downhills.

View from the trail.

Me. Pretty sure that's Capitol Dome in the background.

Me and U with Hickman Bridge in the background on the right.

Matthew and Me

Backside of the bridge.

Couple pictures of a series of smaller bridges that were along the trail.

We then went to some of the viewpoints at the west end of the park.

View of Chimney Rock trail from Panorama Point. It's cool to think we hiked way up there!

Me at Gooseneck Overlook.

Matthew and Me taking a rest at Sunset Point.

Me, Megan and U at Sunset Point.

After dinner, we split two cinnamon rolls plus a cherry and a peach pie. They were delicious although the cherry was a bit sweet.

We again hiked over 10 miles!

We woke up Tuesday morning to 2.5-3 inches of snow. It was pretty. And cold! We ate breakfast and packed up.

Matthew and Megan with the snowy landscape.

We stopped by Panorama Point to enjoy the views. The snow was only on the west end of the park.

View of Chimney Rock trail with a bit of snow on it.

We stopped by the Gifford Homestead to pick up some more pie. Then we headed to the east end of the park to "loop the fold" through the southern section of Capitol Reef National Park. The weather was cold (around 40 F) and windy so we opted to skip the hiking.

Some info on Notom including their song.

Notom Road Twin Rocks

Beautiful scenery!

Some of the 95 million year old oyster fossils.

Me, Matthew and Megan with more of the oyster fossils behind us.

Really pretty! I love the purple in the badlands.

Driving towards the Burr Trail Switchbacks.

A few photos from close to the top of the switchbacks. The scenery really is spectacular!

Me and U

The kids were nervous to get out of the car so we told them they needed to at least come out a small bit so they could show their brain it was not dangerous. Matthew chose to keep one foot in the car.

View from the top of the switchbacks.

Entering the National Monument.

Really nice views.

Matthew and Megan, searching for cell service.

Some views around Longs Canyon.

We stopped by Singing Canyon which had nice acoustics.

Matthew

Megan and Me

We stopped by Anasazi State Park in Boulder. U, Matthew and Me even braved the cold and wind to see the Anasazi ruins and replica.

Matthew and U with the replica.

Ruins.

We drove Highway 12 and enjoyed some amazing, amazing views. There was one area where the land dropped off on both sides of the road. It was simultaneously amazing and terrifying. We quite enjoyed the views.

We enjoyed eating pies at one of the viewpoints. Me got mixed berry, U got strawberry rhubarb, Megan got apple and Matthew got peach.

Don't mess with Megan or her icicle!

The drive was relatively uneventful although there was some snow around Bryce Canyon National Park. We took SR-20 to avoid the higher passes, many of which has been closed earlier in the day due to the snow. We were happy to finally arrive at Grandma and Grandpa's house around 7 pm.