Capitol Reef National Park
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Capitol Reef was a drive-through spot on our honeymoon road trip. I’m not positive if this was the intention of the name, but it really does look like an underwater reef throughout. There is a lot to do if you want to take advantage of it, however, we wanted a very leisurely day.
It seems most people head to Capitol Reef to do the long Cathedral Trail drive that takes about four hours to do completely, however, due to timing and lack of four-wheel drive we did not do this part of the park, but opted for small little excursions throughout. If this is part of your plan keep in mind how long it really does take, and that the entrance is on BLM land about forty minutes outside the park entrance.
Since we only had a half-day we went on the few petroglyph walks along the roadway through the park - which was actually really interesting and a must-see for the area. There was parking right by the trails and they were boarded and ADA accessible. This took about thirty minutes in total.
We then decided to go on the “drive” past the campground that is about 13 miles long. Once passed the history on the caves that are blocked off (I don’t want to ruin this wild mining past, you really should do this part) we decided it all started to look the same and took a turnaround to the orchards. They do have apple butter tasting here sometimes, but we did miss this part. So we opted to see Hickman Natural Bridge instead. we parked in the designated lot and took the 1.7 mile LOOP trail. I’m emphasizing loop because the best part of the trail is when it starts to loop and many just see the bridge and turn around. You’ll go up and under the bridge and then around to a lookout on the left and THEN back down. This hike was not strenuous and very cool to do around sunset!
This park does not have very many amenities like gas and a variety of food stops, so keep that in mind, We stayed at Capitol Reef Resort (off property) and got an amazing pizza from the patio bar across the street. Our only other options were a reservation at our hotel, Subway, or a mom-and-pop pit beef joint. This park was really made by the sunset on the trail and the stay at Capitol Reef Resort. The resort had pools, hot tubs, luxurious rooms, and firepits with smores packs in the evenings.
