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:

Map

Capitol Reef signs:

Capitol Reef sign

Capitol Reef sign

Lots of interesting rocks:

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Jenn talking with someone else at the cancellation stamping station:

Jenn stamping

Visitor center

Visitor center

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

Gifford House

Gifford House

Gifford House

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

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

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

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs

Some names from 1911, halfway up a wall:

Names

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

A painter:

Painter

Painter

Rocks

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

Rock etching

Rock etching

Rock etching

Rock etching

Rock etching

Rock etching

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

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Back in the truck:

Rocks

IMG 5216

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Blowing dust:

Dust

Dust

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

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

Mossy Cave Trail hike, Bryce Canyon

Within the Bryce Canyon National Park boundary, but separated from the main part of the park, is a short hike called Mossy Cave Trail. This hike is 0.8 miles (1.3 km) out-and-back, with an elevation change of 300 feet (91m).

Here’s the trailhead:

Trailhead

Jenn with hiking poles; the first time we used them, very useful on the steep and rough path:

Jenn

Some nice views from the trail:

Rocks

Trail

Bridge

Water

Rocks

Rocks

Bridge

A waterfall:

Water

Waterfall

Waterfall

Waterfall

Rocks

Rocks

Waterfall

Rocks

Waterfall

Waterfall

IMG 4699

Water

Waterfall and rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Another path leads to the Mossy Cave:

Mossy Cave

Mossy Cave

Really more of an overhang than a cave:

Mossy Cave

Still some ice lingering in the shade:

Mossy Cave

Bryce Canyon National Park at sunset

We visited Bryce Canyon National Park again around sunset, on two consecutive nights.

On the first night, we had a fancy dinner at Stone Hearth Grille in Tropic, Utah, in the “canyon” of Bryce (it’s not really a canyon):

Stone Hearth Grille

Appetizer

Appetizer

Main

Jenn

Dessert

Dessert

Then into Bryce Canyon:

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

As you may have noticed, those pictures didn’t have much alpenglow, as the sun was already too low to reach the canyon. So we decided to go again the next night, a bit earlier.

This time, we had dinner at Bryce Canyon Pines, a more casual traditional American restaurant (with very tasty food):

Bryce Canyon Pines

Bryce Canyon Pines

Cherry pie and ice cream

And into Bryce Canyon once again:

Bryce Canyon

Much better alpenglow this time:

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

We enjoyed having a viewpoint to ourselves:

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

A more popular viewpoint:

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Another quiet viewpoint:

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Zion National Park again

We visited Zion National Park again, in the late afternoon and evening, and took several hundred more photos. Here are a bunch of the nice ones.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Jenn & David

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Heading through the mile-long tunnel:

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

A couple of the tunnel windows:

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

A fun game we play when visiting parks is to look for and pick up garbage. Because people suck, and we want to leave our parks better than we found them. This is my haul from one viewpoint:

Garbage

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant just outside the park:

Jenn at Thai restaurant

Thai restaurant

Thai restaurant

Thai restaurant

We’ve seen a couple of restaurants that have checkboxes for tips. I wish every restaurant would do this; it’s so much more convenient:

Thai restaurant

(Bringing an ApplePay terminal to the table is even nicer. Better yet, how about paying a living wage and getting rid of tipping, but this is an improvement over having to do the math.)

Back into the park:

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Back through the tunnel:

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Tunnel

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

The smaller tunnel:

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Jenn & David

Cactus

Cactus

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

We visited Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah:

Bryce Canyon

The entrance station:

Bryce Canyon entrance station

Bryce Canyon visitor center:

Bryce Canyon visitor center

Bryce Canyon visitor center

A map and model:

Bryce Canyon visitor center

An interesting idea: donation boxes by state and country:

Donations by state and country

We drove to the far end of the park, and used an audio tour feature in the NPS app (though it didn’t work reliably, so we missed some of the snippets):

Audio tour in NPS app

A bunch of photos of Bryce Canyon from various viewpoints:

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Selfie

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bird

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

A long trail into the canyon (we didn’t partake of it):

Trail into canyon

Trail

Trail

A balcony at the end of the trail:

Trail

The other side of the balcony:

Window

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

More National Park stickers on our coach:

National Park stickers

Zion National Park

We visited Zion National Park in Utah. A couple of times, actually. For this first visit, we drove through the park, then took shuttle buses along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive (cars are not allowed along that road most of the year).

The road changes color as you enter the park:

The road changes color in the park

Zion sign:

Zion sign

Interesting rock patterns:

Interesting rock patterns

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

A short tunnel:

Small tunnel

Tunnel exit

Rocks

Rocks

The second tunnel is 1.1 miles long, with no lights inside, other than a few windows into the canyon:

Long tunnel

Long tunnel

Long tunnel

Long tunnel

A glimpse of the canyon out one of the windows as we pass by:

View from long tunnel window

Long tunnel

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

We stopped for lunch just outside the park:

Lunch

Then walked to the visitor center:

Walking to visitor center

Unusual to have a walk-through entrance station (in addition to the usual drive-through one):

Walking to visitor center

The visitor center:

Walking to visitor center

We don’t have to pay to enter each of the parks, thanks to our America the Beautiful annual pass, but we more than make up for that in buying postcards and other goodies at the park stores:

Park store

Park store

On the shuttle bus:

On the shuttle bus

Hey look, more rocks:

Rocks

Rocks

Shuttle buses

Rocks

River:

River

Rocks and river

Jenn & David

Rocks and river

Jenn

Rocks

Rocks and river

Posing rock squirrel:

Rock squirrel

Rocks and river

Jenn

Rocks

We took shuttle buses back down the canyon, getting off several times:

On the shuttle bus

On the shuttle bus

Rocks

Rocks

Bridge

Rocks

We opted to walk along a trail between two shuttle stops:

Trail

Rocks

Rocks

Rocks

Shuttle bus

There is a second part of Zion National Park: Kolob Canyons. We drove up there:

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons

Jenn & David

We enjoyed our visit to Zion, and as mentioned, we went back a second time. Stay tuned for another post about that.

Yellowstone National Park bonus pictures

Last September we visited Yellowstone National Park in a rental travel trailer, shortly after buying our coach (as our 40 foot motorhome was too big to fit in Yellowstone). I did several blog posts about our trip, but Jenn recently processed the photos she took with her big camera, a Nikon D7200. So here’s a bonus post with some really nice pics of a very special place. (The photos are also on her Flickr page.) Enjoy!

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

DSC 1513

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Great Basin National Park

We visited Great Basin National Park in Nevada, and did a Lehman Caves tour.

The road to the park:

Road

Wheeler Peak:

Wheeler Peak

Great Basin National Park entrance:

Great Basin National Park entrance

The visitor center:

Visitor center

Visitor center

We had a picnic lunch behind the visitor center:

Picnic lunch

Rhodes Cabin:

Rhodes Cabin

Rhodes Cabin

Lehman Caves diagram:

Lehman Caves diagram

Lehman Caves 3D model:

Lehman Caves model

Info sign:

Info sign

Our ranger guide at the cave entrance. Actually, it’s the exit; they are still doing a COVID-era abbreviated tour, in and out the exit tunnel, a one hour tour instead of 1.5 hours:

Ranger at cave entrance

The tunnel, heading down into the caves:

Tunnel

A bunch of pictures within the caves:

Cave

Cave

Cave

Jenn

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Jenn & David

Cave

Cave

Jenn & David