Hi kids!
We did a weekend getaway to Capitol Reef last weekend and had a lot of fun! Gramma and Grandpa met up with us too! We started the trip off with some Wendy's lunch while we drove in the car. You guys did a great job not making a disaster. Road trips sure get easier as the kiddos get older! You were excited about a special lunch:
We stopped at Fish Lake to check it out first. I was hoping that the salmon would be running up the creek, but we were a little early. We did see them jumping out of the lake quite a few times though! Dad tried fishing while the rest of us took a kayak out:
On the way to and from Fish Lake you drive right by a place a group of aspens called Pando. They are one huge colony of clones of each other so it classifies as one organism, the biggest on the Earth. We didn't get out and hike, just drove past and admired it. We decided to pull over and take a picture by the sign:
After Fish Lake we checked into our hotel and had microwave dinners cooked in the slowest microwaves in the world. It took forever, but you were happy with the dinners. We had some night swimming after that and then it was time for bed:
We ate breakfast both mornings at the cowboy themed motel
The hotel was not too far from the park and we left to go explore right after breakfast. The first thing we did was pick up Junior Ranger booklets and look in the gift shop in the town of Fruita:
After that we did a strenuous hike, but only 3.4 miles round trip, to an arch called Cassidy Arch.. When we started out we needed jackets in the shade but boy did it warm up when we were hiking in direct sunlight. It was a hard hike and we did it! We made it to the arch and some of us stood on top of it! We took lots of pictures on this trail:
After that you guys were exhausted and so hot so we were happy that next we did the scenic drive down towards the parking lot for Capitol Gorge Trailhead:
We stopped for lunch and to work on Junior Ranger. What a spot for picnic!:
The pioneer names and some petroglyphs were in a Capitol Gorge not far from our picnic spot. The drive to get to the parking lot was so cool:
The hike wasn't long and some of it was shaded:
We walked along the dry river bed and the writings were on the canyon walls
The pioneer names were written really high up, these ones being the highest:
We met a park ranger on the trail who told us all about the area. He said that when pioneers came through here with wagonloads of hay they would stand on top of the hay to carve their names. This particular one they must have brought along a ladder to put on top of the hay and reach up even farther. He told us that not much farther up the wash was a trail that leads up to the water tanks hike, which was cool to see even though they were empty right now. Gramma and Grandpa went back to the car while we went on.
Hammer found this cool rock that looked like a chocolate!
One of the tanks:
It was a cool hike and it was only another half mile or so, but boy was it hard in that direct sun:
At this point we ran out of water, but we were also done with this area of the park. So off we went back to Fruita to refill on water and check out the barn, park, schoolhouse, petroglyphs, and river:
These deer are obviously super used to people:
I was totally bummed that the orchards were locked and we couldn't pick apples. The ranger said that we were 2 weeks too early:
Ready for school!:
I loved the boardwalk to see the petroglyphs:
At this point we decided to skip another arch hike (Hickman Natural Bridge). Little legs were all tired! We went straight to the Goosenecks Overlook and Sunset Point and then had a picnic dinner at our car. That hike turned out to be longer than it seemed it would be, but good thing we did it since Dad and TJ hiked to the top of this cool formation and it was their favorite thing they did that day:
The view of goosenecks was neat to see:
Then it was just enough time to head back to the hotel and swim and shower before bed time. We missed this photo spot on the way in the park so we hit it on the way out!
This is our motel. The sky was so clear and blue there! It was a cute quirky spot and I really liked how close it was to the park:
We had two rooms:
We took some photos by your favorite spots before we left:
And then lastly we pulled over and quickly looked at this pioneer homestead from our car. It is so picturesque!
We listened to a book on my phone while we drove home and ate lots of gobstoppers and before we knew it we were home. It felt a little longer for Dad since he drove the whole way, but it was much closer than some of our other road trips that we've done! It was a great weekend and we all had fun together. You guys are strong hikers!
Love,
Mom
