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Tag: capitol reef

Petroglyphs of the Waterpocket Fold

Southern Utah Wanderings | Backcountry Petroglyphs of Capitol Reef
Monday – Tuesday, October 1-2, 2018

After spending Sunday evening and Monday morning in Salt Lake City it was finally time to start my annual October trip to southern Utah. I planned on starting off the week by searching for some remote and little-known petroglyphs hidden in the backcountry of Capitol Reef National Park with my friend Jared. On our drive back from Salt Lake City, Diane and I stopped at Dennis‘ house in Price to pick up my Jeep. I had left my Jeep there on Saturday morning so we wouldn’t have to drive both of our vehicles all the way to Salt Lake City and I wouldn’t have to go all the way back home to Grand Junction to get it afterwards. From Price Diane headed back home and I made my way over to Torrey where I would be meeting up with Jared who had already been hiking in Capitol Reef all weekend. One nice thing about driving from Price to Torrey was that it finally gave me an opportunity to drive Highway 72 from I-70 to Loa through the eastern edge of Fishlake National Forest.

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Sulphur Creek & Pleasant Creek

Saturday & Sunday, May 13-14, 2017

Sulphur Creek is a canyon in Capitol Reef National Park that I have wanted to hike for way too long, and since I’m making an effort this year to go to places that have been on my to-do list for a long time it was finally time to give it a shot. Diane and I left home very early on Saturday morning and drove west through Green River and Hanksville on our way to Fruita in Capitol Reef. We made a brief stop at the Visitor Center to drop off my bike and then continued down the road a few more miles to the Chimney Rock Trailhead.

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Birthday Weekend in Capitol Reef

President’s Day Weekend | Saturday – Monday, February 13-15, 2016

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.

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Red Canyon & Wolverine Canyon

Southern Utah Wanderings 2015
Sunday, October 4, 2015

After sleeping in until the sun came up on Sunday morning we had a little breakfast and then decided to hike the Red Canyon Trail since the trailhead was located right in the campground. We weren’t sure how long the trail was, but we knew it couldn’t be too long since we could see where the canyon ended. It turned out to be a pretty easy hike that followed an old road then dropped into the wash that emerged from the mouth of Red Canyon. The trail eventually ended in a large amphitheater caved out of the Waterpocket Fold. When we returned to the trailhead we had hiked a bit over six miles according to my GPS. It was a nice morning hike to get warmed up for the day.

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Upper Muley Twist Canyon

Southern Utah Wanderings 2015
Saturday, October 3, 2015

I left work an noon on Friday to start my annual week-long October trip into southern Utah by driving north to Salt Lake City so I could watch The Family Ruin, one of my favorite bands, play a show at Area 51. I’ve wanted to see this band live for a while and I wasn’t disappointed! After the concert I drove over to Jared’s house where I would be spending the night. On Saturday morning we slept in a little since I was up late for the concert and then started the drive south. We didn’t really have any plans for the trip at this point, but I thought that the Capitol Reef National Park area would be a good starting point, so we headed that direction.

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