Utah - travelers best kept secret

Balanced rock in ArchesNational Park

We went from Richfield to Moab via 3 parks in central Utah. Spectacular scenery. The first was Capital Reef National Park. We were not prepared to the beauty we saw. We took 260 pictures between us. Sorting out for the blog is frustrating.

So many rocks looked scorched on one side, either white or red on the other. There we thousands of them scattered all over, like a giant explosion had occured.

This is called the "Capital Dome"

The Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long wrinkle in the earth's crust known as a monocline, extends from nearby Thousand Lakes Mountain to the Colorado River (now Lake Powell). Capitol Reef National Park was established to protect this grand and colorful geologic feature, as well as the unique natural and cultural history found in the area. The holes seen in the picture are evidence of the waterfolds.

 

Enjoying the views

The waitress in a coffee stop in Hanksville (didn't make that up) told us about this park.

It is off Rt.24 and so many "figurine type" formations. It's easy to find shapes that look like all sorts of items.

There are beautiful stone pillars and "walls" in addition to the arches

There are several others that are out farther than we could go on trails.

A few desert flowers left - most are faded