Reddest Rocks Yet

Today was a day hiking canyons in the sun. We started with a stop in the Capitol Reef visitor's center to check on hikes and buy the boys hats to shade their faces. Both boys were suffering from dry, sensitive skin last night from the combined effect of the dry air, sun, and chlorine in the swimming pool. Ed had burnt the skin down his part and both had pink on the tops of their cheeks. So we got them baseball style hats from the gift shop. Neither looked too excited but as we were walking down our first hike Ed mentioned how much cooler it was on his head and how his eyes were more relaxed. Score one for mom.

Our first hike was to Hickman Bridge - a natural bridge over a seasonal creek bed. It was considered a 'moderate' hike because it is not on level ground but the altitude change was not too tough. We started there because we thought it would be the toughest hike of the day; up and down and direct sun/no shade. It really wasn't all that tough. We really enjoyed the the scenery and the views. We enjoyed a great view of Capitol Dome as we walked up and through wonderful curving rocks. There was a boulder field of rounded black lava rocks which was didn't seem to fit with the geology, but we liked it. The natural bridge was huge; so huge that is was tough to fit in a picture. As we hiked back, we listened to the noise of some kind of insect in the grass. It sounded like a metallic buzz saw at a distance even though they were near the trail.

Next stop was the short boardwalk along the road with a panel of petroglyphs. There were several stick figures in one area and then lots of bighorn sheep. There were easy to interpret because of the curved horns. There were also petroglyphs in another canyon which we saw later but these were the clearest in the park.

We ate our lunch at the picnic area just inside the park. We sat under some very grand old cottonwood trees near a creek. It was very peaceful. We refilled our water bottles to get ready for a hot afternoon of walking.

We then drove to the Grand Wash. It starts with a drive down a gravel road through a wide canyon. Then you walk 4.5 miles through the canyon to the parking lot a the other side. Or, you do like we did and walk as far as you like and turn around to get back to your own car. Our goal was to walk to the Narrows, in the very center of the canyon, where the walls are steep and the canyon narrow. We knew that is was the middle of the day and that the sun would be high but we expected to find shade in the canyon. Turned out we were wrong. The canyon walk was very neat along the twisting and curving path as the walls came closer. We turned around somewhere near the middle knowing that by the time we got back to the parking lot we would be hot and tired.

We relaxed by driving back to the old homestead site and getting a snack at the farmhouse. We found Henry Weinhardt root beer and were

very happy. We sat at a picnic table and just relaxed for a while. But, you know Scott, he can't sit still for very long. So, we were off for another hike. This one would be shorter and our last of the afternoon.

We hiked the Capitol Canyon at the very end of the scenic drive. Again, it starts with a gravel road down a canyon to a parking lot. We hiked on from there through the canyon. This used to be the road through the park used by early settlers. After every rain they would have to clear the rocks moved by the river waters. Sounds like work. But, they left their mark by carving their names in the canyon walls. We found old names in several places along the canyon.

We were tired after all of this hiking in the hot sun. It seemed that no matter when and where we hiked we were in full sun with little to no shade. We were ready to be done. The boys basically crashed once we hit the car. We drove back to the hotel and took showers and did laundry giving us all a chance to relax. Dinner was burgers and shakes at Slackers Burger joint in town. Then we drove back toward Capitol Reef and stopped at the overlook for Goosenecks and Sunset Point. We walked to the goosenecks first which was jaw dropping. We had no idea that such a deep canyon was just beyond the rocks. Then we hiked Sunset Point and sadly the sun set behind the hills as we were walking. So we missed the perfect photo shoot with the sun lighting up the rocks. It was a great overlook anyway.