A Capitol Time at Capitol Reef

Overnight there must have been a storm we didn’t quite hear. Flowering blooms stuck to the ground rather than the tree branches—and a large one of those split off and landed on the lawn in front of our stairs. It took us a bit longer to roll out than planned (finishing packing, stop for gas etc.), and that was kind of the theme of the day—which comprised, unexpectedly, of 12 hours of travel. We took the scenic route through Zion, so we could see the east side of the park and experience the historic tunnel. The only problem was—10x as many people decided to visit Zion that day vs. any of the previous days we’d been there! The wait to get into the park seemed endless, and Buck needed the bathroom. We knew there was no parking (from the signs telling us so alongside the 30 minute + entry line), but also knew where the bathrooms were. So, once we were through the gates, Buck hopped out and the boys and I circled the teeming parking lot until he met up with us again. Why blog about slow-moving lines and bathroom trips? Idk, I think just to show, in part, how the day grew so long!

This is how the tree flowers looked when we arrived.
Caelan identified the locust tree (purple robe to be exact) from its leaf shape, impressive!

The tunnel was unbelievably narrow, dark, and lengthy—with pops of beautiful views that let blocks of light flood in along the way. The backside of Zion was stunningly beautiful, different even from the canyon portion. Once we exited the park, there was nothing but ranches and rocks—I don’t know where people get gas, clothes, groceries—it’s just endless driving through beauty with nothing else around!

A couple hours later we ended up by Bryce Canyon again, but covered new territory as we followed the twists and turns of Highway 12. Between Escalante and Boulder is, what Buck kept saying, “The most beautiful scenic drive in the WORLD.” Well, that’s not exactly how I billed it, but the guidebooks definitely put it in the Top 10 in the United States :) At first I was like, “What’s the big deal?” But then the cliffs turned beige and started careening at crazy angles, and I thought, “Whoa! I’ve never seen anything like this before!” At one point, we were on a ridge, with steep drops on both sides—and climbing! Idk if that was my favorite part of the drive, eeeek! But it was pretty, and pretty impossible to capture with a photo :)

We were listening to Adventures in Odyssey again, as we increased in elevation to 9900 feet, found winter, drove through the snow, dropped back into unleafed aspens, and then down into flat, open deserts. The lack of gas stations and our dwindling tank began to be a bit unsettling, also no food but the snacks in the van. When we found a tiny town fighting against the increasing and sand-filled winds, we opted to get the gas, but skip the food to outrun the storm. This proved to be a good move for several reasons, top two: 1. it seemed like the unpredictable weather was always just a bit beyond our path 2. as I looked at the guidebook and utilized spotty internet connections to confirm the unexpected glitch in our running late day—the visitor center at Capitol Reef NP closed at 4:30—what?! Why? Oof.

We rolled in with 4:00 pm on the near horizon. The guys headed to the bathroom, while I got in line for my Jr. Ranger booklet. I could see the ranger lady with the disheveled hair giving me looks while I waited. I knew we weren’t going to be friends, but still thought I’d try. Lol :) I sent Graysen to get Buck to get the NP pass from the van, so we could gain entry to the park, officially. Buck hopped in line with me and we waited for our turn. No intention to be mean (because this was of course a beloved Mister Rogers character), but that ranger gal straight up looked like this . . .

She took one glance at the back of our fresh-this-month annual park pass and said, “You’ve been red marked.” Dead-level stare in the eyes, challenging us to enter her park with red pen on our pass. It was a stand-off! We explained that the nice folks at Zion let us know, after we’d signed the back, they’d crossed off my name, as the new rules for 2025 indicate only one name and ID can be presented regardless of who actually owned the pass . . . etc. etc. The look she gave us said, “Yeah, but I’d rather just banish you from all the parks forever.” If it had just been me, that totally would have happened. But Buck has some sugar about him that sweetens the toughest old gals, and she acquiesced to our presence, grumpily handing over the booklet. “You’ll have to watch the movie—it’s required!” she directed. “Yes, Ma’am,” we said and scooted out of line to do her bidding. Lol! 

Straight into the movie, I used the tiny pencil—half the size of a normal golf scoring pencil—to scribble answers to the questions as quickly as I could! Buck watched the movie and whispered me clues as I flipped through the pages. I paid zero attention to that required film, although I'm sure it was very nicely done and extremely informative. Minutes later, we emerged and I could almost feel the ranger's eyes on us--so I scooted in to the "museum" area to gather more facts, while Buck scanned the gift shop for the boys. I found them all outside a few minutes later, Graysen eager to work his legs on a mountain bike ride. 

I immediately put them all to work, searching the barren parking area for nature we could measure, draw, describe, lick--Idk there were a lot of requirements! I think this was also the booklet that required us to transfer several temperatures into Celsius from Fahrenheit--math, in nature? Give me strength! We opened the park brochure, stuck it to the hood of the van, while I--yes, I Googled answers for the children's booklet. Buck and I decided there should be a parent's cheat sheet for all these answers on the dark web somewhere anyway, lol! After frantically drawing my own "rock art" and coming up with a reason for it to be there, I scrubbed a little flower pressing on the page to make it look dirty and nature-y--like we'd concluded the hikes we didn't have time to take before the visitor center closed, but fully intended to take AFTER. I'm sure it didn't matter--but I was not going to be denied my Jr. Ranger badge. It took us more than a dozen years to get back to Utah, and I wasn't leaving without it--lol!!

Also, this whole time I had to go to the bathroom--but there was no time for a break! With the book finished, I sent Buck to stand in line, because he had a better shot at the badge than I did. He looked at me like I was crazy, but I headed to the bathroom anyway. When I met him, not in line, he said, "The ranger lady is gone . . . now's your chance!" I next met a pleasant-ish gentleman, who also looked skeptical of the time we'd spent on the booklet (in total, it was about 20 minutes, and they technically expect it to take all day). But it was complete, I could answer questions, and on top of it I asked for mountain bike trails--so he could see how much we wanted to explore his and Lady Fairchild's remote Utah park. Oh my goodness, what a day!

We had about 10 minutes to race Graysen down to the town founder's cabin. We were expecting a little historic home tour as it quickly approached closing time. We found a sales shop with overpriced goods and all the famous pies gone (I didn't know there were famous pies until someone else joined us at closing time and asked :) There were a few historic artifacts and some photos. I guess at most only 11 Mormon families lived in this little oasis of the waterpocket fold, raising fruit trees (which still bloom today--providing hungry, late summer tourists with pick-your-own snack options).

There were no further trails for G$ to ride, so we strapped his bike to the back of the van, and drove to see a couple of the featured trails we'd missed. Our first was Goosenecks . . . these were all short (very short) easy hikes, because it was late in the day, the weather was moody, and we still had to drive to Moab a couple more hours away. I think, looking back at these photos, the hardest thing for a picture to capture is the depth and scale of these places we visited. The heights were dizzying, the views stretched farther than the eye can see--mountains fading to purple shadows in the far distance. Layers and layers of landscape, yeah, one-dimensional photos just can't.

Up at the Goosenecks, we connected with a bit of cellular service. Those storms the newlyweds flew over had reached our community. An unbelievable number of tornados, some a mile wide, had torn through the small towns surrounding us leaving total destruction in their paths. A photo came through from my brother of a massive twister only about a mile or two from his home. I connected with the girls and our neighbor and found all was well with them and at home. Very scary, but, thankfully, the daytime nature of the storms meant most people were prepared and able to find safe shelter. We definitely did some mountaintop praying for those at home.

Our last little hike on the way out of the park took us to see the rock paintings preserved for history. Part of the wall had collapsed, burying that section's little dancing dudes forever, but the ones that were left were interesting to consider. Perhaps they have some meaning--in my Jr. Ranger book, I wrote that they might have been to scare off invading tribes, kind of a "look at the fierce warriors protecting these grounds. Beware!" The ranger guy seemed to like that answer, as if he'd never heard it before (which is super unlikely). Out of their earshot, and on the trail, we considered that it might be an exasperated mother who needed to give her kid something to do--"Go draw on the wall!" 

"How much of the wall?"

"I don't know, all of it! Surprise me! Take your brother with you." Lol, I could see it happening :)

I'd also been seeing rock formations in unique ways (I have photos of a frog rock pile for Gabby, a lizard rock pile for nobody in particular, but it super looked like a dinosaur-sized lizard, and this  . . . ope, need to get out of the parenthetical aside to finish my thought!). At the end of the boardwalk trail, there were a couple more drawings of goats and such (Brennen said he didn't see any goats--but I think he meant real ones, like in Utah, for inspiration for the drawings, just generally), but also this big whistling guy! Graysen whistles ALL the time, so this reminded me of him . . . can you see the face--eyes, nose, tiny triangle mouth? :)

A stranger lady said I should be in the picture, Buck agreed, so here I am :)

Well, the break in the drive was good for us, but we still needed to get to Moab. I'm trying to remember if we ever did find food that day . . . I remember looking for restaurants when I had data available, but I don't remember stopping for any. Hmmm. Buck reminded me that we stopped at a Subway restaurant in a gas station--and now I remember it was as expensive as going out for a decent meal. Maybe this is why my memory blocked that refueling, plus Subway is ew. We did see the first television coverage of the tornadoes across the nation while we sat. Oooof.

Well, it was dark and rainy when we rolled into Moab, but the town was hopping! From our last visit, I remember a hotel and maybe a gas station, a good Mexican restaurant, and nothing else--but not any more! There's no way it could have developed as much as it clearly has in our 13 year absence. We passed the Arches park entrance and drove and drove and drove down the main street to our hotel on the outskirts. Along the way, the boys and Buck kept geeking out about classic cars they saw cruising. Buck realized there HAD to be something going on, and sure enough their annual classic car show was happening that weekend! Well, I knew immediately, we were scrapping our visit to Canyonlands NP. It will have to wait for another trip to Utah. We needed some downtime after our looooooong day in three seasons and their accompanying weather, anyway.

The hotel room proved spacious enough for us, our stuff, the bikes, and beds for everyone! I remember the boys watching basketball (confirmed by the TV), probably also some of the later NFL draft rounds, and then they all went to sleep while I worked on a new plan for our next day. Whew! Sweet dreams :)