Sulphur Creek Road MTB Ride and Notom Road

Today we started off with the mountain bikes, and headed out Sulphur Creek Road, hoping for a pleasant mountain bike ride.  Along the way we passed many boon docking sites.  Nice views here, on level ground.  People have camped here before.

The campsite over looks a small canyon, with fairly abrupt drop offs.

Alas, alack, the ride ended here for us.  If we were more avid mountain bikers we would have forded the creek, but we're not, so we didn't.

It's a beautiful little stream, with a small grove of aspens.

It would have been nice to ride farther, but the water put a stop to us.

After being thwarted on the ride, we decided to head out on Notom Road to see what we would see.  The terrain out there is very different than in the main part of Capitol Reef.  There is water here and people are farming in the low lying areas.

We turned off onto a dirt road and this is what we saw.  It's stark out there, but it has its own beauty. 

We drove on.  I love this view.

These are right by the side of the road.

After going to the end of the pavement, we came back.  See on top of the hill?  Those are three people on horse back.

When we first headed out on Notom, we did not notice this canyon.  Look at this!  It's huge.

Everywhere you look, there is something amazing to see.  I'm glad we went out there, it was pretty cool.  We also saw a 27 mile dirt road to Hanksville that looks like it might be doable on mountain bikes.

This is from on the way back in to the park.  The pointy rock is Navajo Dome.

It was a beautiful day in Capitol Reef.

Chimney Rock Hike

Today’s hike on the Chimney Rock loop exceeded expectations.  The route started off with a stiff climb that left me panting a bit.  We’re at 7,000 feet and I have not yet acclimated.  From the overlook we could see Chimney Rock.

Then the trail went down and around for a bit and we could see this.  The first photo is the Goosenecks area of the river.  If I had internet I could look up the name of the river, which currently escapes me, but at present that is not happening.  Allow me to digress.  There’s very little internet here.  People sit outside in their cars at the visitor’s center, or the restaurant they named Slackers, or in the parking lot of the Days Inn.  It’s just sad.  In this day and age how can their be no internet?  I suppose I should be grateful that we can make phone calls and text.  The park internet comes and goes.  We had it long enough yesterday to post from Live Writer, but we may be headed for the visitor center parking lot in a bit.

It’s fascinating how straight of a line is formed by the break in the colors.   Look how perfect that is.

What we really enjoyed about the trail is that it took you into a rubble field.  Chunks of rock break off and fall down.  Walking through the debris, it was interesting to see how large the chunks are.

It’s a beautiful hike – we liked it.

We drove in to Loa this afternoon for food – it’s 18 miles from here.  If you come to the area, and you should, stock up before leaving!  Torrey has a few restaurants and hotels, but the grocery store is more of a mini mart than a real store.

Goosenecks and Sunset Point and the Scenic Drive

Today (Thursday) was a rest day for us.  Between the big hike and a strenuous mountain bike ride yesterday, we were tired.  It was a beautiful day for sight seeing.  Hopefully no one is tired of red rock, because there are many more rocks to come!

First off was a stop at the Goosenecks and Sunset Point overlooks.  It’s really interesting to see how the water has cut through the rocks over millions of years.  The views from Sunset Point are stunning.

After those overlooks, we drove the Scenic Drive that begins at the park visitor center.  The first cool thing we saw was the campground.  Have you seen the teeny tiny travel trailers on the road?  The ones that are smaller than the Teardrops?  We’ve been wondering how people sleep, or even get in to them.  This is how.  They’re like a Tardis!

Note the solar on the other side of the trailer.

It’s a beautiful campground. It’s been full every day since we got here, and I can see why.  We watched a man walking his dog go by the deer, neither the deer or the dog acknowledged each other.  There is also a flock of turkeys who come by in the morning.

Continuing on the Scenic Drive, we took the dirt road down to the Grand Wash.  It’s just stunning down there, as well.

After the wash, there was more driving and more scenic beauty. 

It’s very peaceful in the RV park.  Down the hill from us, a goose has been honking for about an hour.  We’re not clear on what his issue is.

Hickman Bridge and the Rim Overlook Trail

Today we hiked up to the Hickman Bridge and then took the Rim Overlook Trail.  We successfully resisted the urge to over dress in the early morning coldness.  It's windier here than it is in the park, which is strange because we're just a few miles away from the entrance.  This is what we see out the windshield.  It's really pretty when the sun is coming up.

We went with Jim and Gayle and Debbie who hike everywhere.  This was taken in the trail head parking lot. It was a beautiful morning in Utah.

First it was off to the Hickman Bridge.

This is the under side of the bridge.  It's just gorgeous.  We were there early enough that the light was still nice.

The gnarled trees are always interesting.

Then it was on to the Rim Overlook Trail.  It was steep!  But there is a lot of stuff to look at on the way.

This is cool, look at how layered the rock is.

Here we are, getting near the top, but not there yet.

The view from the Rim.  Those are fruit trees down there.  You can also see the road.

Oh look - it's Jim.

This is the water pocket fold.  It stretches for 100 miles.  The geology here is breath taking.  By the time we leave Utah I'll be out of superlatives again.

It was about 6 miles total, with about 1,400 feet of elevation gain.  It was enough hike, my little toes are tired.

A Capitol Reef Hike

There was a group hike today.  Jim and I made the classic error of dressing for the current temperature and not what it would be.  It was so cold when we left the RV we couldn’t believe it would really warm up.  But it did.  It’s good to wear pants whose legs will zip off.



It’s pretty out there.  We sort of bushwhacked for awhile looking for a trail.  Which we did not find.  We were close, but no cigar.



It started getting hot.  There were three dogs with us, and so we turned back to get them home and out of the heat.  The dog foreground is Rupert.  Cute cute cute.  Check out his tufted ears.  The other dog is Elliot.  When he gets hot he digs into cooler ground and lays in the dirt.



Afterwards we went into Torrey to check out the grocery store and the strength of the internet in the parking lot of the Slacker restaurant.  I think it was good that we stocked up on staples before coming here.  It’s a very small town.  The internet in the parking lot is pretty good.



I’m doing this post in Live Writer, which is why it looks different than all the other posts.  It’s for practice, as much as anything.  The force of the internet is very weak to non existent in the RV park, so I may be writing off line and then doing a burst transmission when there is connectivity.  It probably won’t be much better in Virgin, where we are going next.  There is zero Verizon coverage there.