Another Capital Reef Question

lfloom wrote:
The road between capitol reef and escalante had me nearly in tears. I was terrified. I am usually the driver, but I could not do it. My husband took over, but not until we had an argument about how he really needed to respect my fear of the road and to drive very carefully.

I hope to do So Utah again someday, but it I wont drive that road. It was scary in car, terrifying with a trailer.

I did not need to hear this, guess I better show my wife how to drive the truck with FW.

The road between capitol reef and escalante had me nearly in tears. I was terrified. I am usually the driver, but I could not do it. My husband took over, but not until we had an argument about how he really needed to respect my fear of the road and to drive very carefully.

I hope to do So Utah again someday, but it I wont drive that road. It was scary in car, terrifying with a trailer.

Capital Reef is a lesser visited park in southern Utah but it is a gem. It is rural.

I spent 2 days there and I think the other posters have more experience, but I will add this:

- there is a little store near the campground in Fruita. Get the small individual sized pies. Very tasty.

- The campground in the park does not take reservations, first come first served. You need to show up early enough or stay outside and then come in the next morning. Torrey is about 10 miles outside of the park. Sites are not big. I don't think my 35' would fit anywhere. They do have a group site but it is reserved under separate rules months in advance.

- Capital Reef is weird shaped.

- Cathedral Valley - We decide to do this loop and it was awesome. You can't take a trailer on it, but we did it in a Toyota 4runner and for me it was fun dirt-trail driving.

- Torrey has a great burger place that was on TV. One of those diners and dives type shows.

- I don't think I could find 10 days worth of stuff to do. I'm not a super avid hiker. I'd split the time as others have suggested, maybe Escalante or Kanab areas.

If you have not been there, Goblin Valley State Park is not that far from Capitol Reef. In my opinion there is more than enough to see in the Capitol Reef/Torrey area for ten days. There is the Fishlake Scenic Byway and other Scenic byways and backways. There is lots to explore on the Eastern end of the Ut-12 Scenic Byway. There are numerous hiking trails in the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument.

We have spent considerably more than ten days in the Torrey/Capitol Reef area and have not seen it all. Just depends on what you want and like to do.

Our big trip this year will be split between Bryce and Capitol Reef, with more time biased towards Bryce.

If I was coming from the East, I'd consider Moab and Arches as good add-ons for Capitol Reef.

It depends on what you like to do. The park is big enough for ten days of hiking, in desert canyon country. There are at least a dozen different trails, and you can get a back-country permit, but they still want you to stay on trails so as to not destroy the desert biology in undisturbed soil.

I could stay busy for weeks trying to map the geology, except I would not really be allowed to get around to do that, considering the restrictions that protect the park.

Bicycling is on-road only, so not a place for mountain biking. But some of the road loops are 30, 60, 80, 120 miles, enough to keep a road biker busy for several days.

No water sports, no theme park rides. Grand Staircase nearby, and national forests for more open recreational activities, still mostly hiking and limited to established roads.

Capitol Reef is a quite long linear park, with limited internal roads, connections by highways outside the park. Staying there 10 days, I would probably be thinking about using more than one campground location, for access to different parts of the park during my visit.

But generally, when I am thinking about "things to do" a tend to prefer National Recreation Areas over National Parks. NRAs are about opening lands to access, national parks have been moving more in the direction of protecting the lands, limiting activities as necessary toward that end.

there is a 2 week limit at the CG, and lots of people stay that entire time. This give the cg a nice community feel, and in my 6 days, I got to know quite a few of the other campers. During some times of the year you can pick and keep fruit from the orchards. I would love to spend two weeks there!

Thanks everyone for replies! we will divide our time :) Tara

Have been there several times and I am a pro photographer and we are hikers - we will be back there again this Fall for a week. We have always stayed at Thousand Lakes.

I agree with my friend, Thunder Mountain, there is lots to do. But, unless you are hikers and driver arounders, 10 days might be a stretch. Even then, not by much.

We've been there often and are hikers but for 10 days at a time and being your 'full' vacation, I think it's too much time. Yes, there are other places to visit in the area but you'll be doing a lot of driving. I would suggest that you move around. For instance, stay in Escalante and do some hiking out of that small town. The slot canyons are awesome. Then perhaps move down to Kodachrome State Park or Bryce Nat'l Park.

We're just not ones to drive distances daily to see the area. We move to those spots. It's a lot more restful.