Capitol Reef National Park
WHO
Our family of four visited Capitol Reef National Park when Averhy was 16 and Eden was 13 years old. The hikes were really easy and we all enjoyed them.
WHAT
For our day exploring Capitol Reef National Park, we took a small daypack with water, granola bars, trail mix, and beef jerky. You can see our entire road trip packing list in the full Utah Road Trip post here. Temperatures were mild, so we were comfortable in hiking pants and sweatshirts.
WHEN
We took this trip in March during the girls’ spring break. This was a great time to visit Capitol Reef National Park because the temperatures were mild (around 60*) and the park was not crowded at all.
WHERE
We spent the night at the Red Sands Hotel in Torrey, UT. It was a nice hotel, very close to the west entrance to the National Park.
The route we took and the places we stopped are marked on the map.
WHY
Of all the National Parks we visited during our Utah Road Trip, this might have been our favorite. It seems to be overlooked by many people, and it’s smaller than the other parks we visited, but it has a lot of bang for your buck! There were very few people here, the trails we hiked were easy, and the landscape is varied - with winding canyons, large arches, and huge rock features.
HOW
Torrey is a short drive from Capitol Reef National Park, so we got up and on the road first thing in the morning. The visitor center is actually a few miles into the park itself, and there is only a fee to access the Scenic Drive south into the park. That means you can enjoy many gorgeous views and several fun hikes for free if you just stay on Route 24.
Our first two stops were at Chimney Rock and Panorama Point, both on Route 24. We did not do the 3.5 mile loop Chimney Rock trail, but it looked to be of moderate difficulty and with little shade. We chose to spend our time on other trails.
At the Visitor Center further along Route 24, we picked up a map and headed south along the scenic drive. The National Park entrance fee is paid on the honor system here at a drop box, so we hung our Annual Pass from our car mirror instead.
The Scenic Drive is beautiful, and gives you access to several different trails. Our first hike started at the Cassidy Arch Trailhead, but instead of going up toward the arch, we chose to hike along the Grand Wash trail.
We spent several hours exploring this out-and-back trail. It has another access point on Route 24, so it is possible to hike it without taking the Scenic Drive.
Next we drove further south to the end of the Scenic Drive, and took the Capitol Gorge road to the trailhead. This gravel road was rough, with a lot of potholes and areas that could easily wash out during a storm. Our van handled it fine, but we drove slowly!
We did not do the hike at the end of the road, because the parking lot was full and we wanted to move on to other sites.
The Scenic Drive is an out-and-back road, so we drove back to the visitor center and kept heading east. We briefly stopped to see some petroglyphs along Route 24. The wooden boardwalk makes this stop very accessible. Continuing east, our next hike was to the Hickman Bridge, an easy/moderate out-and-back trail with a loop section once you reach the arch. There were some large “pothole” formations that were fun to climb in as well! This hike took about 1.5 hours.
After the Hickman Bridge, we continued east on Route 24, heading toward Moab for the next day of our road trip.
Overall, we really enjoyed Capitol Reef National Park. The canyons were fun to hike, and the steep walls of the wash areas were really impressive. There were several sections in the Capitol Gorge wash area where the walls seemed to curve out over the road itself!
We wondered about the story behind the name of this National Park, and we learned that Capitol Dome (one of the rock formations you can see from the Hickman Bridge trail) was named that because it resembles the Capitol building in Washington DC. Also this entire area surrounds a long wrinkle in the earth known as the Waterpocket Fold, which created the massive chain of rocks/cliffs that runs along the east side of this area (take a look on the satellite view of Google maps and you can see it!)
Final tips
Be prepared for ZERO cell service in this area. We put our phones on airplane mode for most of the day to avoid draining the battery. We finally got cell service again when we stopped in Hanksville for fuel and a snack.
Parts of this area felt like we could be on Mars… and other people have felt the same! If you want a unique experience, maybe check out the Mars Desert Research Station, located off of Route 24, east of the park.
Hickman Bridge is a great place to stop and have a snack or lunch, but remember to pack it in and pack it out! Nobody likes finding trash on the trail…
