Some people can drive through a national park in a half a day and call it complete. And, that’s great, but we aren’t typically like those people. Nisheet and I love spending time in a place an really get to know it. Unfortunately, Capitol Reef National Park was going to have to be an exception. I was flying out to Salt Lake City for a week long business trip and Nisheet was tagging along. We decided to fly in early on Saturday, drive down to Capitol Reef (3.5 hours away), spend as much time in Capitol Reef as possible, and then drive back to Salt Lake City Sunday afternoon.
Luckily for us, Utah is 2 hours behind. So even though it is a 4.5 hour flight, our early morning flight still landed by 10am. We quickly rented a car and hit the road. The drive down was beautiful, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it breathtaking. We kept wondering how a national park could possibly be nearby. Where were the giant red cliffs we had seen in pictures? Where was the dramatic landscape? On top of that, it was raining on and off. But we pressed onwards.
As we were quickly approaching Capitol Reef, we began to seriously question if we made a poor choice for our weekend destination. But then, as we rounded a corner to the national park entrance, we were met face-to-face with the breathtaking scenery that we had been anticipating. And it kept getting more and more gorgeous the closer we got.
The first item on our itinerary was the visitor’s center. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again. If at all possible, definitely start with a national park’s visitor center. It is a great introduction to the park, and the friendly rangers will give you the best tips on how to make the most out of your time at the park. For our first day, they suggested taking the Scenic Drive and continuing on to Capitol Gorge Road. Perfect. That is what I had already planned for us.
The Scenic Drive was breathtaking as the road meandered right along the red cliffs. Every so often, there was a pull-off so you could admire the vastness to one side and the various rock formations on the other side. Even though I knew Capitol Reef was one of the less visited national parks in Utah and that we were going early in the season, I was surprised how few people we encountered. And perhaps it has been too long since I’ve been to a national park out west, but I couldn’t get over how quiet it was. At times it was nothingness. Not only were there no cars honking, people chatting, or trains whistling, but there we no birds chirping or even wind in the trees. It was peaceful. It was stunning. And it was exactly what we were wishing for. We lingered far too long just admiring the beautiful emptiness of it all.
At the end of the Scenic Drive, the road splits between Capitol Gorge Road and Pleasant Creek Road. We were not lucky enough to get upgraded to an SUV at the car rental, so that immediately eliminated Pleasant Creek Road for us. However, the ranger at the visitor center said we should still be able to navigate Capitol Gorge Road in our Nissan Altima. So that’s what we did.
I thought the Scenic Drive had us driving close to the cliffs, but Capitol Gorge Road took it to a whole other level. At times we could reach out the window and touch the rocks!
It was a short but awe-inspiring drive, and at the end there was the Capitol Gorge Trail. Surprising, huh? We were starting to run short on time before sunset, so we only walked part of the trail. But it was inspiring with formidable cliffs going straight up on either side of you. We then came across one of the Pioneer registers with 4 names dated from 1911 chiseled high up on the rocks. Then it started to sprinkle a little so we decided to head out as you definitely don’t want to get stuck down here in when it rains (flash flood prone area).
Our next stop was a short hike to Sunset Point. We knew our chances of actually seeing sunset were slim since it was an overcast day, but we went anyway. And I’m really glad we did. It was one of the most beautiful vistas I have ever seen. The rocks were full of colors ranging from white to red. There were snow capped mountains in the distance. And spring green bushes were dotting the landscape. We sat there soaking it all in until there was barely enough light to hike back to the car. At night, we headed out to Panorama point to watch an amazing display of stars in one of the darkest regions of the country. What a perfect first day at Capitol Reef.
