Our trip to Capitol Reef, Utah - 2006...
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Capitol Reef Monument, Utah. Our first stop on our trip to southern Utah. We planned on five to seven days here... |
| TerraCotta seemed to be a prevalent color at Capitol Reef. Pictures don't show the scale of these massive rocks... |
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This fellow was called "Chimney Rock" even though it looked nothing like a chimney from any direction that we looked at it. The "Chimney Rock" trail goes right up there on the plateau behind it. Our first climb... |
| The trail beckons... |
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Nature provides color in desert... |
| But, life is hard and some don't make it. This guy is struggling mightily... |
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The view improves as we climb the trail... |
| Another giant rock cracking and crumbling onto the slopes below.... |
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Looking at Chimney Rock from the plateau. We climbed quite a ways but the wind was blowing so hard that we started our retreat.... |
| Looking back down to the parking lot. Where's the escalator? |
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Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses. Or, in this case, the prickly pear.... |
| Signs here and there tell us about the geology of the area. In this case, the Waterpocket Fold..." |
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Back on the road again to look at more incredible scenery.... |
| Think this tree has been struggling for existence? |
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Navajo Dome. Millions of years ago this was sand dunes slowly compressing, hardening and then weathering. Millions of years from now it'll be gone. Not that I'll know the difference, of course.... |
| Hey! What a great toad that would make for behind our RV. Wait! That is the toad from behind our RV.... |
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These big damn rocks poke up everywhere around these parts.... |
| They call the one in the center "Capitol Dome". Another ancient sand dune. I should look that good when I'm that old... |
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This cabin was built by a fellow by the name of Behunin. Apparently a family of ten lived in this thing in the early 1800's until the river rose and flooded them out. The boys slept in small caves in the hill in back and the girls slept in a wagon. No microwaves, I bet.... |
| We had to stop and look at the petroglyphs. Ancient graffiti? |
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More petroglyphs. The stone is somewhat soft but you'd think it would still take them a while to carve these figures into the surface of the stone |
| Another rock sticking out of the ground and looking like a layer cake... |
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How many big damn rocks can we look at during a day? Lots of them, apparently... |
| Here an there a spot of color as the prickly pear cactus is starting to bloom... |
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What keeps all of that rock from falling over, you ask? My wife the wonder woman, of course! |
| We took the walk down the "Grand Wash". Here the walls in the canyon begin closing in... |
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You never know what'll be around the next corner. Hopefully not a flash flood. Warnings not to enter washes during inclement weather were posted prominently in many places ... |
| Snake's Head Rock (or that's what we called it, anyway)... |
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The colors, patterns and textures of rock in the canyon were fascinating. We wouldn't have walked faster even if we could have... |
| This fellow was taking a break in the shade... |
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And some more big rocks by the road... |
| We also took a hike into Headquarter's Canyon from the Notom-Bullfrog Road. It's only about a mile each way, if I recall correctly... |
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Eventually, the trail peters out and you head up a dry (we hope) wash. No chance of getting lost, here... |
| Pretty soon it gets even harder to get lost as the walls close in... |
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Hey! Who is that handsome guy? Whoever he is it looks like he was damn lucky not to get stuck in the narrow canyon... |
| We found beautiful flowers in lots of places. This place was no exception... |
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Lots of critters around, too. This lizard looked to be pretty content lazing the day away on this limb... |
| Back on the Notom-Bullfrog Road again and more exceptional scenery... |
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This shot was taken on the Burr Trail Road. You'd think we'd burn out after a while but noooo. Seemed like everywhere you turned there was something incredible to look at... |
| More damn rocks by the Burr Trail Road... |
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Looking back down the canyon at part of the paved portion of the Burr Trail Road (corrected thanks to information provided to me by a visitor to this page). Certainly one of the most incredible drives I've been on in a long time... |
| Now we're on our way to Cathedral Valley at Capitol Reef. Looks pretty barren here... |
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Yep. Not a place I think I want to live. Back in the car and turn up the air conditioning... |
| Even here we'll find beauty... |
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Wait! What's this? Hunter's trailer way out here??? |
| This tree lost its struggle... |
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Looking down into Cathedral Valley. The road we're taking is almost directly below us but not visible... |
| Now we're down in the valley almost directly below our last position. Fortunately, we drove instead of rolled... |
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These pointy thingies are just growing out of the ground in the valley... |
| They do stand out, though... |
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This was over near the Gypsum Sinkhole. Layers upon layers. Simply incredible (oh, have I said that before?)... |
| Right this way, folks, at the base of that rock... |
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And here's the sinkhole. Some of these were 200 feet deep, they say. And signs everywhere warning people to stay back from the edge |
| This one was "Temple Of The Sun"... |
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And the "Temple Of The Moon"... |
| This thing is called "Crystal Mountain". I'm not certain it bears much resemblance to a mountain but it is a giant pile of gypsum crystals. Wonder what it looked like years ago. Much bigger, I imagine... |
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Looking more closely... |
| And even more closely... |
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One last rock photo before we leave Cathedral Valley. From Capitol Reef we traveled to Bryce Canyon. While at Bryce Canyon we also visited Kodachrome Basin State Park. |