We arrived at Capitol Reef fairly late, so we decided to sneak in a hike at the relatively easy Capitol Gorge trail. The rangers at the visitor center recommended this hike for a casual glimpse into what Capitol Reef offers.
Part 1 of the hike are some petroglyphs, drawn by Fremont Indians, some inscriptions by pioneers who found this area much later, and some random vandalism.
I had recently learned what tanks were from my hike earlier in the week at Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas, Nevada. Tanks are naturally formed reservoirs that capture rain or snow melt. This is the part of the hike that’s not particularly easy to find looking up, but after some scrambling, we accidentally found it. Of course, there is an obvious trail on the descent, looking down towards the wash.
Throughout the entire trek, we were surrounded by beautiful towering gorge walls. In California, we don’t have reddish stone. The colors were so stunning!
Part 3 is…. just kidding. I mistakenly thought there was another section. Take my word and head back to the trailhead after visiting the tanks. I thought there was an end to the trail so we kept walking further into the gorge. The landscape changes at each turn, but can look the same to some. After another hour and the sun steadily creeping toward the horizon and not finding anything, we decided to walk back. Walking on soft sand is not easy; it’s a workout in itself. Try walking on the beach in the soft sandy section for a mile and compare it to walking along the sand close to the ocean where the sand is much more compact. The compact sand is a lot easier to walk on, right?
On the way back, I started noticing more details on the trail, which made me fall more and more for the beauty of Capitol Reef.
As we neared the trailhead, I started to drag my feet because I was oh so tired! To get me going and not thinking about how far I still had to walk, I started to look up at the sky, and noticed the blue glow of the gorge at dusk. The red sienna browns and yellows that were so vivid earlier in the day had transitioned to their silent blue and pale yellow tones.
I think I can sufficiently say that I’ve been to Mars! heheh
Capitol Gorge Trail (out-and-back)
Start: from parking lot
Duration: 1 hour
Difficulty: easy (some climbing to find the tanks)
Length: 2 miles (round trip) (+ 1 or 2 more miles for us haha)
Danger: be weary of summer flash floods
Happy travels!
Cat
