Capitol Reef National Park

Since Bryce was too snowy, we picked up another national park on our route that we weren't planning to visit...Capitol Reef! We actually hadn't even heard of this one, but once we were in Utah we found out it was part of the "Mighty Five" (the other four of which we were visiting), and it was on the way to our next destination so we decided to try it. 

Between Bryce and Capitol Reef it was a desert with absolutely no cell phone service. Combine that with the fact that we had never heard of this park, we had no idea what to do when we got there. I got a spot of service and found a random hike that seemed okay to attempt and we decided to try it. It turned out to be the longest and arguably most dangerous hike we attempted on the trip! It was also potentially the most memorable for everyone!

First we started at Panorama Point.

The actual hike we did - the Cassidy Arch Trail - started out benign enough (ended up being 3.6 miles total).

We passed through a slot canyon (risk of flash flooding very low this day) and played on some of the cool formations we found.

Then we got to the actual trail head and the climb started.

The dome over my left shoulder is why this park has the name "Capitol" in it. There were several of these domed structures in the park. The waterpocket folds gave it the "Reef" part.

The arch we were hiking to...

Jane taking a break on the climb.

Finally crossing a flatter section near the end...

And we made it! We had a snack before going to the actual arch.

The arch!

The hike down went muuuuch faster but everyone was tired and we still had a ways to go to Moab. This park was so cool though and I wish we had planned to go to this one from the start! There were definitely some other cool hikes in this park as well as an orchard. I would definitely come back here. Cassidy Arch was probably the most memorable hike of our trip and this park also made everyone's top lists.

Then we had the delirious drive to Moab where we stayed in a tiny house for two nights.

Chris and I had a bedroom and the kids stayed in a two-sided loft. Rosie kept forgetting what it was called and called it a "flah"

There was a little playground outside the kids played on in the mornings and evenings.