Visiting two national parks in one day, 144 miles apart, while actually trying to see the best of both. Sounds like a pretty impossible task, doesn't it? Although I'm not sure I would do it again, we only had 5 days to visit the "Mighty 5" parks, so on Day 2 of our road trip that's just what we did. Both Canyonlands and Capitol Reef are extremely immense but we did our best to get a feel of each location.
Only 30 minutes from Moab, Canyonlands was up first. We drove to a popular overlook, parked the car, stretched our legs and walked about 30 minutes out to a rock ledge jutting out into the canyon. The walk was peaceful - lots of cactus flowers, lizards, and rock towers guiding the way. And after a day at the extremely popular Arches National Park, the solitude was definitely appreciated :) We hung out on the overlook for a while, and then headed to a trail I had picked out to an "Aztec Butte" (actually a Pueblo grain storage area). The word 'trail' is a little deceptive out in the desert - it just means a flat expanse of land with random rock piles for you to spot and follow. The butte was pretty cool, it's amazing to think how people lived in such an arid landscape.
On our way out, we stopped by the main attraction: the Mesa Arch. This beautiful formation overlooks the entire canyon and is just a short walk from a parking lot. We ate lunch on a rock nearby while enjoying the view and people-watching. Then back in the car for a two and a half hour ride to Capitol Reef. The drive was pretty uneventful - we cruised on flat, open road with the top down and only passed a handful of cars the entire way. It's crazy how huge, and beautiful, or country is.
We were pretty road-weary by the time we reached Capitol Reef and were excited to get out of the car to take a photo at the park entrance. After spending way too long trying to set the camera on auto-timer, a couple in an RV pulled up and snapped it for us. Then we pulled over at one of the first trailheads we came across and did a hour-long loop alongside a river to get a good view of Capitol Dome. CJ got to try out his Sawyer water-filtration system as well :) The hike was nice, but the breathtaking views were everywhere. We were surrounded by red-rock canyons in every direction. So of course we had to stop at an overlook for some more panos. And a photo shoot..
One unique thing about Capitol Reef is that it used to be the site of a Morman settlement. There is still an old schoolhouse that was used by locals until the 1930s, and the remainder of fruit orchards. The park service maintains them and the fruit is free for any park visitor to eat when they are in season. Unfortunately, we were between harvests, and an early frost had wiped out this year's cherry crop.
We drove to the nearby town of Torrey to stay for the night. By sheer dumb luck, the grill we picked for dinner had a live folk concert on the patio with a beautiful view of the canyons. We had some pizza, draft beer, and listened to music as the sun went down. Not a bad way to recuperate.
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