“Loop the Fold” drive around Capitol Reef National Park

As a fun day trip, we did the “Loop the Fold” scenic drive, using a guide booklet we purchased at the Capitol Reef visitor center.

This 125 mile driving loop goes around the Waterpocket Fold, through the Capitol Reef park, along Burr Trail Road in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and through Dixie and Fishlake National Forests.

Here’s the “Loop the Fold” road guide:

Loop the Fold road guide

The included map, with stop markers:

Loop the Fold map

We started from the RV park in Torrey, and continued clockwise, through Capitol Reef:

Capitol Reef sign

Chimney Rock, stop number 37 in the guide (see the map above):

Rocks

Panorama Point (stop 38):

Sunset Point

Jenn at Sunset Point

The guide is numbered from the Visitor Center, with total miles given from that point, so the Fruta schoolhouse is stop number 1 at mile 0.8:

Fruta schoolhouse (1)

At the petroglyphs (stop 2, mile 1.1), Jenn took a survey:

Jenn taking survey

Petroglyphs:

Petroglyphs (2)

Hickman Bridge Trailhead (stop 3, mile 1.9):

Hickman Bridge Trailhead (3)

Navajo Dome view (stop 4, mile 2.3):

Navajo Dome view (4)

Historic cabin (stop 6, mile 6.0):

Historic cabin (6)

Historic cabin

Rocks:

Rocks

We left the Capitol Reef park at the east entrance (stop 7, mile 9.1):

Capitol Reef sign (7)

A historical marker for the settlement of Notom (stop 8, mile 14.0):

Notom (8)

Notom

View:

View

Hoodoos (stop 10, mile 17.6):

Hoodoos (10)

We had a picnic lunch in our truck at that stop:

Picnic lunch

Views:

Views

The pavement ends at mile 19.3:

Pavement ends

Driving across a wash:

Wash

Washboarded road:

Washboarded road

Rough road:

Rough road

The Summerville Formation (stop 15, mile 28.1):

The Summerville Formation (15)

Re-entering the park (mile 28.4):

Re-entering the park

Ridge:

Ridge

View

Ridge

Our truck parked on the side of the road:

Truck

Oyster Shell Reef (stop 17, mile 32.3):

Oyster Shell Reef (17)

Oyster fossils:

Oyster fossils

View:

View

Selfie:

Jenn & David

Dirt road:

Dirt road

View

The road changes color:

The road changes color

Spike:

Spike

Smooth

Morrison Formation (stop 18, mile 39); 150-million-year-old Brushy Basin layer of soft claystone on the left, and Salt Wash layer of coarse sandstone on the right:

Morrison Formation (18)

Rocks:

Rocks

Junction (stop 20, mile 42.1):

Junction (20)

We took a detour off the route:

Ridges

Driving across a wash:

Wash

The post horse corral:

Horse corral

View

Back across the wash:

Wash

View

The Burr Trail Switchbacks (stop 22, mile 42.9):

Burr Trail Switchbacks (22)

Burr Trail Switchbacks

Don’t look down:

Burr Trail Switchbacks

At the top:

Top of Burr Trail Switchbacks

Rocks

We stopped for a pie snack:

Pie

Pavement resumes when leaving the park (stop 24, mile 45.3):

Pavement resumes (24)

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument:

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Views:

Views

Rocks

Singing Canyon (stop 26, mile 66.9):

Singing Canyon (26)

Long Canyon viewpoint (stop 28, mile 68.7):

Long Canyon viewpoint (28)

Navajo sandstone (stop 29, mile 76.5):

Navajo sandstone (28)

Sub-alpine trees:

Sub-alpine trees

Homestead Overlook (stop 32, mile 90.4):

Homestead Overloop (32)

Homestead Overlook

Sub-alpine trees

Larb Hollow Overlook (stop 34, mile 101.4):

Larb Hollow Overlook (34)

Overlook

View

A fun day trip.

Capitol Reef National Park

We visited Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. It is a long skinny park, encompassing the Waterpocket Fold, “a geologic wrinkle on earth” (quoting from the NPS site; really should be “in earth”).

Here’s a map; click it to explore the NPS map:

Capitol Reef signs:

Capitol Reef sign

Lots of interesting rocks:

Rocks

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Jenn talking with someone else at the cancellation stamping station:

Jenn stamping

Visitor center

A large wall-mounted map:

Map

Rocks

Marmot crossing

We stopped by Gifford House, a historic Mormon homestead, which now contains a gift and pie shop:

Gifford House

We bought a couple of fruit pies as a snack:

Pies

We also got a jam sampler:

Jams

Outside:

Cart

Horse

Back on the scenic drive in the park:

Rocks

Our drive led to the trailhead for a hike though a canyon, and on impulse we decided to do it (which was a bit silly, as we weren’t properly dressed for it, but oh well):

Hike trailhead

Rocks

Flowers

Rocks

Petroglyphs:

Petroglyphs

Some names from 1911, halfway up a wall:

Names

Rocks

A painter:

Painter

Rocks

The “pioneer register” rock etchings from the 1880’s:

Rock etching

A security camera to make sure nobody adds more markings (probably battery powered, recording for later review; or maybe a dummy):

Camera

Rocks

Jenn & David

Rocks

Back in the truck:

Rocks

Blowing dust:

Dust

Rocks

A nice park. Stay tuned for more posts from here from subsequent days.

Route maps

Here’s an animated GIF showing our RV travel routes: the Yellowstone rental trailer trip last year, adding travel in our coach last year, travel so far this year, and finally the planned route for much of the remainder of the year.

Route maps

Thousand Lakes RV Park

We stayed at Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-05-08
Check out: 2022-05-11
3 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging around 60°F, lows around 30°F
Sub-freezing overnight some nights
Very windy most afternoons, with gusts up to 60 MPH
We kept our slides in most of the time

Noise:

No road noise, no train noise
Quiet neighbors

Site:

#31, pull-through, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked next to coach
Smallish site: 55 feet long by about 25 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
Low water pressure, 30 PSI, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located
Didn’t connect water or sewer other than to fill and dump, since it got below freezing

Picnic table and fire pit

Internet:

Campground Wi-Fi: available, not used
T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 27 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
Verizon: 16 Mbps down, 28 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
Starlink: not used, since short stay

Amenities:

Garbage bins and dumpster
Small pool, not used
Nice store and BBQ restaurant

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Good base camp for Capitol Reef

Nice park with trees between each site and views of the surrounding red cliffs. Sites were a little on the small side for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle; we had to park the truck next to the rig, and the door hit our slide when getting in or out. Very conveniently located to Capitol Reef National Park, which is the main draw. Torrey has some good restaurants, and the onsite bbq was just so nice and close after a long day in the park. The shop had a great selection of souvenirs and basic necessities, as well. We camped at Thousand Lakes RV Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

Satellite map:

Thousand Lakes RV Park

A couple of GIFs of our coach leveling itself, captured by the truck dashcam:

Leveling

Our site; it was so windy that we kept our slides in for most of the time:

Our site

A nice view of red cliffs beyond the park:

View

This is what our coach looks like inside with the slide-outs in; a bit cramped:

Slides in

Paladin sitting on the back of the driver chair:

Paladin

He was interested in jumping up to the top of the slide-out, though didn’t actually do so:

Paladin

As mentioned above, one nice thing about this park is that it has an on-site BBQ; here’s the menu:

BBQ menu

BBQ info:

BBQ info

The restaurant:

BBQ restaurant

BBQ dining room:

BBQ dining room

BBQ food:

BBQ food

They also have a nice gift shop and general store on site:

Gift shop

Let’s walk around. Here’s the entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Play area:

Play area

RV park store and gift shop:

Gift shop

Even a hair salon, apparently:

Gift shop

Some tent sites, populated by a group (who regretted their choices, being so windy):

Tent sites

RVs:

RVs

A small pool; we didn’t use it, since it wasn’t very warm:

Pool

Cabins:

Cabins

A nice view:

View

More RVs:

RVs

Cows:

Cows

Those sites along the back would have a great view, though were very small:

RVs

More cabins:

Cabins

A hall with seating:

Hall

Our site again, after we put out three of the four slides:

Our site

Travel from Hatch to Torrey, UT

We drove our coach 124 miles, about 3 hours, from Hatch, Utah to Torrey, Utah.

Here’s the map, heading northeast:

Map route

Heading down the highway:

Road

Paladin spent much of the time in his safe space next to my chair, as usual:

Paladin in his safe space

Some nice old buildings in Panguitch (I’m going to try to take more pictures of interesting towns we pass through):

Panguitch

Nice houses:

Nice houses

I worked on my laptop while Jenn drove:

Laptop

Butch Cassidy’s childhood home:

Butch Cassidy's childhood home

An old building:

Old building

Junction, our turn:

Junction

Mountains:

Mountains

Interesting rocks:

Rocks

The Otter Creek Reservoir:

Water

Lots of straight portions of the highway:

Road

Which are a convenient and fairly safe time for me to get up and grab a snack from the fridge:

Mountains:

Road and mountains

Never Rip Overalls:

Never Rip Overalls

Some horses crossing the highway:

Horses

More road and mountains:

Road and mountains

Curve

Up and down:

Up and down

Road and mountains

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Arriving at our destination for a few nights:

Arriving

Paladin on the dash while Jenn is checking in:

Paladin

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument including Singing Canyon

We took a day trip along Scenic Byway 12 and Burr Trail Road to Singing Canyon, a small slot canyon in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

The monument is a massive area, almost two million acres, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The drive we went on was just a tiny fraction of it; inspired by this article.

The Grand Staircase is a massive series of cliffs, going from Cedar Breaks National Park to the Grand Canyon; here’s an image from the Wikipedia article:

The Grand Staircase

Heading along Scenic Byway 12:

Scenic Byway 12

Lots of interesting rocks along the road:

Road and rocks

Monument sign:

Sign

One of the visitor centers for the monument, in Cannonville, Utah:

Visitor center

Back on the road:

Road and rocks

Another visitor center in Escalante, Utah:

Visitor center

Road and rocks

Jenn & David

Road and rocks

Trying a prickly pear cactus candy snack from the first visitor center (pretty tasty):

Cactus candy

Road and rocks

Singing canyon, so named due to its amazing acoustics, which we can confirm; we had it all to ourselves, too:

Singing canyon

Jenn & David

Singing canyon

Interesting rocks outside the canyon — actually it’s still in a canyon, Long Canyon:

Singing canyon

Interesting rocks

Looking down into Long Canyon:

Road and rocks

We encountered a couple of free-range cows on the road:

Cow

Road and rocks

Rocks

Road and rocks

An enjoyable drive, and impressive slot canyon.

The Riverside Ranch

We stayed at The Riverside Ranch in Hatch, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-04-24
Check out: 2022-05-08
14 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, a little drizzle
High temps ranging between 51 and 72°F, lows around 20-40°F
Sub-freezing overnight several nights
Windy most afternoons

Noise:

Minimal road noise, no train noise
Quiet neighbors

Site:

#5, pull-through, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Somewhat large site: 55 feet long by about 45 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
High water pressure, 100 PSI (need a regulator), conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located
Didn’t connect water or sewer other than to fill and dump, since it got below freezing

Picnic table

Internet:

Campground Wi-Fi: 27-32 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 15 ms ping; not used
T-Mobile: 93 Mbps down, 10-35 Mbps up, 70-80 ms ping
AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Verizon: 75-85 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Starlink: 12-23 Mbps down, 2-14 Mbps up, 34-54 ms ping

Amenities:

Package delivery right to each site
Garbage dumpster
No pool

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Great home base for exploring southern Utah

We stayed here for two weeks, and it was a great base camp to see Bryce, Zion, several state parks (that were just as good as the national parks), national monuments, and scenic drives. Very quiet and scenic spot, right off the highway. We would have liked to stay in one of the riverside spots, but they don’t have sewer hookups and we can’t go that long without dumping the tanks, alas. Still, the pull-through sites in the upper part of the park had a lovely view over the valley and the pink cliffs in the distance. We had several packages delivered and the camp hosts brought them right to our site, which was very convenient. The staff were all very helpful and friendly, beginning with check-in where we were given a lot of tourism info about the area. It does get windy, but that’s been our experience everywhere in the southwest at this time of year, so we didn’t get to spend as much time outside as we would’ve liked, but that’s offset by how much exploring we got to do in the area. We’d definitely stay here again. We camped at The Riverside Ranch in a Motorhome.

The weather forecast for our stay:

Weather forecast

And the second week:

Weather

The campground map. We stayed in the upper area, as the lower (riverside) area doesn’t have sewer hookups:

Campground map

Satellite view:

Satellite view

They gave us a bunch of tourist info for the area:

Tourist info

Once we spent a night here, we could add Utah to the map on the side of our coach:

States map

Our site:

Our site

100 PSI water pressure; a regulator is definitely required (I have mine set to 60 PSI):

100 PSI water pressure

Dinner outside:

Dinner outside

Paladin looking out a window:

Paladin looking out a window

It was too windy to work outside most days, but I did a few times:

David working outside

Setting sun:

Setting sun

We were visited by Jenn’s Uncle Todd; our first visitors at a campsite:

David, Jenn, Uncle Todd

An interesting window in a coach next to us for a few days:

Interesting window

Let’s walk around the park, starting with the sign out front:

Sign

There’s a Mexican restaurant and country store out front, but unfortunately they were closed; not sure if just for the season, or permanently:

Closed Mexican restaurant

The Riverside Ranch also includes a motel:

Hotel

Downhill to the RV park:

Downhill to RV park

RVs (with a glimpse of ours):

RVs

The river (more of a stream, but still):

River

RVs by the river:

RVs and river

RVs

They have some tent sites, too:

Tent

River and tent

Tent site

A nice corner for religious services (this is Utah, after all):

Religious area

The RV office:

Office and RVs

Group fire pit:

Group fire pit

Bathroom:

Bathroom

BBQ area and RV office:

Office

Finally, the sign lit up at night:

Sign at night

Travel from Caliente, NV to Hatch, UT

We drove our coach 177 miles, 4.5 hours, from Caliente, Nevada to Hatch, Utah. Yay, another state!

Here’s the map, heading east:

Map route

An interesting point about this route is it isn’t the most direct route — that would be highway 14. However, as the map indicates, there is a portion with a too low clearance for our coach, plus that route is very twisty and across a mountaintop. We did drive that route in our truck later, and were very glad we didn’t try to take our coach that way. This is an important part of route planning; making sure it is feasible for our RV. The RV Life Trip Wizard really helps with this.

Anyway, on with the travel pics. Caliente is a fairly cute small town; here’s Company Row:

Caliente Company Row

Turning onto 319 East:

Turning onto 319 East

An interesting house in Panaca, and fellow RV traveler:

An interesting house in Panaca

A curvy highway:

Curvy highway

More curves

The GPS mirrored on the TV, approaching the Utah border, represented by the horizontal dotted line:

GPS approaching Utah border

Entering Utah:

Entering Utah

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Train:

Train

The clouds looked fake:

The clouds look fake

Utah highway:

Utah highway

Hey there Paladin:

Paladin

Snowy mountains:

Snowy mountains

Getting on to I-15:

Getting on to I-15

Where the speed limit was 80 MPH, not that we go that fast in our coach:

Speed limit 80 MPH

Paladin sleeping in his safe spot next to my chair:

Paladin

We didn’t really need fuel, but were concerned that truck stops would be less common out in the wilds of Utah, so stopped at T/A to top up:

Fuel stop at T/A

At the pump

We topped up the DEF, too:

DEF

A first for us, we parked with the trucks:

Parked with the trucks

And headed in to Subway for lunch:

Subway for lunch

A couple more Paladin pics:

Paladin

I noticed a bunch of these interesting ramps along the freeway; presumably to let animals escape the road:

Ramp

Our exit:

Our exit

Cattle guard:

Cattle guard

Curvy road:

Curvy road

Highway leading to snowy hills:

Highway

Snow by the side of the road:

Snow

7,920 feet summit, with more curves and steep downhill ahead:

7920 feet summit

Sharp curve and mountain vista:

Sharp curve and mountain

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

“River”:

River

Arriving at our next destination:

Arriving

Paladin watching birds while Jenn checks in:

Paladin

Young’s RV Park

We stayed at Young’s RV Park in Caliente, Nevada. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-04-21
Check out: 2022-04-24
3 nights

Weather:

Windy, rainy, cloudy
High temps ranging between 60 and 72°F, lows around 32-44°F
Very windy the first day (wind is common in Spring)

Noise:

No road noise, occasional train noise
Quiet and noisy neighbors on different days

Site:

#38, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Medium site: no marked edges, but about 60 feet long by about 25 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
Good water pressure, 55 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located

Picnic table

Internet:

Campground Wi-Fi: 0.5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45-145 ms ping; not used
T-Mobile: no service
AT&T: 3-8 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 3-9 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 80-128 ms ping

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
No pool

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Good basic campground

We stayed for a few nights on our way to Great Basin National Park. Our site was level and easy to get in and out of. Seems like a very popular spot for gatherings as I got the impression everyone else staying there knew each other, but at least everyone obeyed the quiet hours. We camped at Young’s RV Park in a Motorhome.

The weather forecast for our stay:

Weather

This park was unusual in that there was no paper map or other information provided, just a credit card receipt (that had the Wi-Fi password on it). Here’s the map from their website:

Map