Capitol Reef National Park is Utah's newest national park. It's also the state's least visited one. Since the goal of any respectable blogger is to provide content you can't find anywhere else, I'm going to be devoting more posts to Capitol Reef than any of the parks we visited. Rock colors: Rusty orange dominates Zion, bright orange prevails in Bryce, but brownish-orange, from the shale layers, is what first caught my attention in Capitol Reef. These parks, along with the yet-to-be reported Arches, all contain Navajo sandstone.
Millions of years ago the Waterpocket Fold and the rise of the Colorado Plateau created the geologic features of Capitol Reef. The area that later became the national park was once one of the most isoloated pockets in the continental United States. The completion of Utah State Route 24 opened it up to travelers like us in 1962.
Exploration came late to south central Utah, the Capitol Reef area wasn't charted until the 1870s, shortly afterwards Mormon settlers, but not a lot of them, moved in.
Capitol Reef got its name for one stretch of rocks, dubbed a reef, which has several Navajo Sandstone domes that resemble the dome of the US Capitol.
Next: Fruita
Earlier posts:
- The controversial Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
- A final look at Bryce
- Different scenes of Bryce Canyon
- "Hell of a place," Bryce Canyon
- Red Canyon
- Cedar Breaks
- Taylor Creek Trail
- Kolob Canyons
- The geology of Zion National Park
- Overview of Zion National
- Moqui Cave
- Arizona's White Mesa and roadside stands
- The dogs of Kayenta
- Monument Valley at sunrise
- Monument Valley at sunset
- The road to Monument Valley
- The monument is closed and in the wrong spot
- More of Mesa Verde National Park
- Mesa Verde National Park and the Ancients
- Gerald R. Ford Memorial Highway
- Flatlanders battle the Rocky Mountains and a car gets altitude sickness
- Buffalo Bill's gravesite
- Buffalo Bill's Scout's Rest Ranch
- My rattlesnake sighting
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