Capitol Reef National Park

I thought I was done with the vacation pictures, but noticed yesterday that I’d forgotten a whole set. So here it is.

Capitol Reef is close to Lake Powell. As the crow flies, you’re probably looking at ten miles. On the road between 276 and Notom the park is 30 miles from the lake. The road runs in and out of the park, but the whole area is red rock, so you aren’t likely to notice

These pictographs are right on the road.

There’s a little parking area, and a walk way built along the cliff. The walk way is about a quarter of a mile long, with pictographs visible every few feet. It’s the easiest way to see pictographs that I’ve ever had, and certainly beats my efforts to find them on Lake Powell.

Capitol Reef was named by early settlers who thought the rock structures looked like the domes you find on capitol buildings. You can see some of the old houses and equipment around the visitor’s center.

Although it was storming so badly when we first reached the park that we couldn’t see the road even with the wipers were running on high, we went down the arroyo infested Scenic Drive to Capitol Gorge. I really, really wish we’d stopped to take a picture of the car between the narrow cliffs, but when we got to the best spot for it, another car was already parked in the road and the owners were snapping away. You’ll have to settle for these two pictures instead.