Capitol Reef

 

I have never been to this part of Utah before, and found the area magical and quite colorful.  Torrey is a very small town out in the boonies at an elevation of about 6800’.  It is about 8 miles from Capitol Reef.  I had my best night’s sleep there, mainly because it was the coolest place on the trip and I could sleep with the window open and not have to use the noisy air conditioning.  The photo above is one that I took outside the park visitor center. It is of the "Capitol", as is the second photo below.  Because we drove past all of the fantastic scenery via the bus without the chance to take photos, I snagged some off of the internet so that you could see how beautiful this area is.

Our hike of the day was on the Grand Wash Trail.  And grand it was! 

After lunch at the visitor center,  we stopped at an area that was full of rock art  from the Fremont culture.  I've enhanced the photos, but you will also need to look closely to see the finely carved figures.

Because of the heavy monsoon rains that southern Utah experienced this year, this field east of Torrey was looking pretty good.

Here is one of the old historical buildings in town.