Share Our World: Capitol Reef National Park Overview

I am very excited to share this overview of my trip to Capitol Reef National Park.

This park is located in Southern Utah and is very unique in that it is "60 miles (97 km) long on its north–south axis and just 6 miles (9.7 km) wide on average." 1 It is full of interesting rock formations.

On the first day of the trip I drove from Mesa, Arizona to Capitol Reef (8.5 hours) and got there right at sunset. I drove the width of the park on Highway 24 and got some great shots and then met the rest of the family after dark. The next day we explored the park together and did some hiking.

I will do more posts with details about the highlighted areas below and link them to this overview post!

I got some pictures at west the park entrance.

Sunset Drive

I did a short sunset drive along Highway 24, which cuts across the park on the first night.

Fluted Wall

The Fluted Wall formation is found right on highway 24 (which bisects the park). This formation is millions of years old. Time, wind and weather has made this beautiful natural sculpture.

The Castle

The Castle sits a top of the Fluted Wall. It is probably the oldest castle you'll see. It is made of Wingate Standstone in the Late Triassic period making it 200 million years old! The cliffs reach a height of 825 feet.

Fruita School

The Fruita Schoolhouse was built in 1896 and served as a school and community center for the Mormon families in the area until 1924. In 1964 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places

The next day @jarvie, Jodi and I got another picture at the east entrance.

Grand Wash Hike

The Grand Wash Hike is a easy hike along the wash with very high canyon walls that have interesting colors and textures.


So many holes in the walls		Yes, that is @jarvie for scale

Group shot

Petroglyphs

Scenic drive

This is a great Scenic drive that branches off from highway 24. There is great place to get pie and ice cream, eat lunch and rest in the picnic grove by a stream close to the start of the drive. It has very interesting formations like candy cane and Navajo formation.