Capitol Reef National Park

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Utah has 5 national parks (Utah's "Mighty Five"), and it could probably support a few more given the amazing scenery and terrain. And the terrain is amazing, but if I'm being honest, we were a tad burned out on red rocks by the time we got to park number five, Capitol Reef.

As a result, we spent less time at this park than we did at the others. Rather than spend a full day exploring, we spent two evenings here.

Don't get me wrong, the park is stunning. And if it had been our first Utah park, I'm sure we would have been blown away. But since it was our fifth, we had already seen much of what Capitol Reef had to offer. As all of the parks do, it did have some unique features (domed rocks, hence the "Capitol" in the name), but they weren't so different as to really make this park stand out.

We did a few short hikes through the canyons and one hike to an natural bridge. At the latter, where we stumbled across a small wedding, complete with minister, photographer, groom in tux and bride in wedding dress!

The most memorable hike was an impromptu one out to a point to view the sunset. The sun was already down by the time we got there, but that didn't dissuade us. And by "us," I mean "everybody but Julie."

We are the tiny dots on the top of that rock. Julie would be the one taking the picture, safely on solid ground.

The park has one unique feature: It has a few thousand fruit trees that the park service maintains. The trees are leftovers from early Mormon settlers. There are apple, pear, and peach trees. When they are ripe, visitors are welcome to pick and eat for no fee. You can pick and take home for a nominal fee. We unfortunately missed the last of the fruit by a mere three weeks.

Location: Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA

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