President’s Day Weekend | Saturday – Monday, February 13-15, 2016
Hickman Bridge in Capitol Reef National Park.
This year I decided to head down to Capitol Reef National Park for my birthday weekend. It’s always nice that my birthday is near President’s Day so I usually have a three day weekend to enjoy. While I’ve spent some time in Capitol Reef before, it’s typically been to the backcountry areas of the park. This trip I was planning on spending most of our time in the area surrounding Fruita and the Fremont River. This part of the park is usually the busiest, especially in the spring and fall, and I was hoping the crowds would still be small this time of the year, even on a fee-free holiday weekend.
We left home early on Saturday morning and watched a nice sunrise as we drove across eastern Utah. After a quick stop at the Hollow Mountain in Hanksville to top off my fuel tank we continued along Highway 24 to the park. We arrived at the Hickman Bridge Trailhead shortly after 9:00am and started hiking up the Navajo Knobs Trail.
The beginning of the Navajo Knobs Trail.
Diane enjoys the view from the Rim Overlook over the Visitor’s Center.
Diane looks down over The Castle with the Navajo Knobs in the distance.
A rough-looking arch we passed shortly before reaching the Navajo Knobs at the end of the trail.
View from the top of the Navajo Knobs towards the Henry Mountains.
Looking towards Thousand Lake Mountain as we descended from the high point.
Hiking back down.
After returning to the trailhead we headed into Torrey to check into our hotel and have a little dinner. Then we returned to the park to explore the Fruita area a little and catch the sunset from Sunset Point.
There were a lot of deer hanging around Fruita this evening.
Soft light on The Fluted Wall.
Highway 24 through the park.
Warm evening light on Chimney Rock.
This dead tree along the trail caught my attention.
The Castle casts it’s shadow on the face of the cliff behind it.
Last light on the Henry Mountains from Sunset Point.
A closer look at Mount Ellen.
About fifteen minutes after the sunset there was a nice glow cast across the landscape.
On Sunday morning we woke up to an overcast sky as we drove back into the park and started to hike up the back of the Waterpocket Fold into Cohab Canyon.
The view into Cohab Canyon from the top.
Since it was Valentine’s Day we spotted this heart along the trail. Can you see it?
After a little bit the canyon started to open up.
Another heart we found on the sandstone.
Following the Cohab Canyon Trail.
After visiting an overlook above the Fremont River we reached The Frying Pan Trail and started following it.
Shortly after climbing out of Cohab Canyon the sky started to clear out a little and the sun made it’s first appearance of the day.
A large hoodoo we passed on the trail.
The views from The Frying Pan Trail were pretty great.
There was still plenty of snow on the ground on the north-facing slopes. This was a long grade we had to climb that was mostly covered in snow. We had our microspikes with us all weekend but we never ended up needing to use them.
Diane overlooks this sandstone jungle from the edge of the trail.
We made sure to take the side trip to visit Cassidy Arch.
There were a few tricky snow and ice covered sections on the short trail to the arch, but we made the best of them. Here’s a short video clip of Diane glissading down a snow-covered sandstone dome.
Following the switchbacks down into Grand Wash.
Soon we reached the bottom of Grand Wash and started hiking upstream.
We passed these old uranium mines along the way.
This stone structure was also nearby.
Since we only had one vehicle with us, we had to walk back to my Jeep in Fruita on the Scenic Drive.
Almost done with the loop in Fruita.
After our hike we stopped to check out the petroglyphs along the highway.
I returned to Sunset Point shortly before sunset, but with the clear skies to the east and clouds to the west on the horizon it turned out to be a bust.
On Monday morning we packed up my Jeep, checked out of the hotel and returned to Capitol Reef for a few more hours. We started out by visiting Goosenecks Point.
A nice view overlooking the Goosenecks of Sulphur Creek.
Since we had skipped the side trip to Hickman Bridge on Saturday when we hiked to the Navajo Knobs we decided to hike that short trail this morning.
Beautiful sandstone scenery and nice clouds.
An impressive natural bridge.
A view from underneath.
Great views on our hike back down.
A couple of smaller bridges along the trail.
A small granary along the trail, too.
Next, we stopped to see a small panel of Ute Petroglyphs.
Then we hiked through Grand Wash and The Narrows before heading back home.
As desert lovers, my wife and I have for the last 12 years taken a yearly fall camping and hiking pilgrimage to Utah and Arizona, from our home in Calgary, Alberta. I can’t recall how I came across your site last year, but have been a regular visitor since then, for a dose of desert scenery to sustain, until we go again in October. Thanks!
I stumbled across your blog yesterday while trying to find the best route through the Bookcliffs from De Beque to Highway 139. Anyway, I got to hunting around your site and found this post. I am taking my husband here in 2 weeks to celebrate his birthday, and we’ve never been to Capitol Reef before, though we have had very similar trips based on your other trips. 🙂 Just thought it was a fun coincidence. Looking forward to trying out some of these other places we haven’r been yet (i.e. Tenmile Canyon). My husband is working on his Master’s in Archaeology and I am a fellow photographer, so anytime we hear of petroglyphs or pictographs we haven’t seen yet, we pack up the baby and dogs and go! Thanks for maintaining such a great blog– we will reference it often. Happy trails!
Thanks! I actually just spent this past weekend in Capitol Reef for my birthday again! That trip report will be coming soon once I get caught up!