Winter Journey Through Capitol Reef National Park - Part Two

Our journey continued further into historic Fruita and the Capitol Reef Visitor Center, just off Route 24.  There is another scenic road that leads to historic buildings/shops (Gifford House, Blacksmith) and other trails, but we're saving that for our return trip.  The Visitor Center has a movie theatre, topographic diorama, displays and gift shop (Gifford House canned goods and kitchen ware available for sale....try the apple butter!).  The gift shop also has DVDs, CDs (we got the Western Themes CD of all the old television westerns); maps, guide books, historical books, postcards, plenty for the children, and lots more.  You can even adopt a Marmot for $25, receiving a certificate and stuffed animal.  The rangers are very informative and helpful, so don't be shy about asking questions...intelligent questions, not ones like, "Why is the desert hot?"  If you don't already know why, you shouldn't be traveling in it in the first place.

Continuing west on Route 24, next stop is The Castle; a craggy peak of ochre-colored Wingate sandstone, sitting atop gray-green Chinle formation, atop red Moenkopi formation.  This featured site of the park is not simply fascinating because of the craggy peak, but of the layers of colored stone formations.

By the way, I forgot to mention how Capitol Reef got its name; many of the pioneers that had come through had been sailors of the sea.  The rugged terrain of the Waterpocket Fold reminded them so much of the reefs the sailing ships had to avoid.  Capitol came from the resemblance of the Navajo dome to D.C.'s Capitol building; hence Capitol Reef.  Which brings me to pioneers themselves; ALL pioneers had to go through treacherous terrain; deal with hostile wildlife and/or people; illnesses and/or injury.  So, if you happen to believe that one group of pioneers *cough, cough....Hole in the Rockers* is so much better than the next because of what hardships they endured....surprise!!!...they weren't the only special ones, they all were!!!  Now back to our regularly scheduled tour...


Panorama Point was our lunch stop for this day; good thing we did bring a picnic lunch as the only stores open between Hanksville and Bicknell were gas/convenience or a Subway shop in Torrey.  At Panorama Point, you can basically see from one end of the park to the other; absolutely gorgeous landscapes.  There is a short road to the Goosenecks Trail, then a 600 foot hike to see Sulphur Creek as it snakes along the valley below, creating a "gooseneck".  This is a natural trail and was too snow laden for us to walk that day, but, and you guessed it, on the to-do list for next time.  So, as we enjoyed munching on homemade chicken salad on croissants, and chunky potato salad, we sat  in our vehicle (heat on of course) and admired Capitol Reef's glorious scenery around us.

Chimney Rock looks like its name; a pinnacle of Moenkopi Shale which has a 3.6 mile easy hiking trail that loops behind it.

View westward from Chimney Rock.

There is a pull-in area where you can view Twin Rocks, two knobs of Shinarump sandstone.

...and then we were off to spy out Torrey and Bicknell.  Unfortunately, as I stated above, the only places open were gas/convenience stores and a Subway shop in Torrey.  All those lovely gift shops along the way will have to wait until our return in a warmer month. 

Oh, there were two beautiful white Mountain Herding Sheep Dogs who graciously agreed to pose for us with their herd.

On our way out of Capitol Reef, the junction at the beginning was now cloud free, sun shining and beautiful; so we went up the Notom Road a bit and I photographed the snow covered Waterfold Pocket.

As I have repeated, we do intend on returning and checking out Capitol Reef National Park in a warmer season.

Consider yourselves warned....(best Terminator voice) we'll be back!

Mary Cokenour

The Shafer Trail - Continuing to Potash Road - Part Two

After reaching the junction of Shafer Trail/Potash Road or the White Rim Trail; we did continue onto the White Rim Trail, but I'm going to post about that in Part Three of this write up. For now, lets just pretend that we made that left turn and decided to head on out to Moab; we're still in San Juan County and, technically, would not enter Grand County until we passed by the potash collection pools. 


Almost immediately we entered into what we decided to call "Valley of the Hammers", as that is what the formations reminded us of.  At any moment, we expected to see armored dwarves from Mithral Hall (R.A. Salvador reference); from Lord of the Rings fame; or even Thor himself carrying Mjolnir.  Shafer Canyon certainly presented us with pleasant surprises!

 




One sign you will see is about the Bighorn Sheep Lambing Area; unfortunately we didn't see any of these majestic creatures walking the ground areas, or among the rocky ledges.  We did, however, see the Colorado River and the famous "gooseneck" that lies below Dead Horse Point.  By the way, one of these shots is supposed to be of "Thelma and Louise Point", but I can't figure out which one.



The Gooseneck 




Shafer Canyon has a lot more interesting rock formations besides what we called "Valley of the Hammers"; I found not one map nor site that gave names to them, but that's not unusual.  There are so many formations throughout the area, that giving each one a name, well who could keep track!?!

Here's where the road gets a bit interesting, it's one of those riverbeds that we didn't just cross, but had to drive through for a bit before we came to an actual road again.  A couple of times I had to get out, scout out a more level driving area, and direct Roy over it.











Now that storm coming in from the south and west I mentioned in Part One; somehow we kept just missing it; in other words, we didn't get rained on, but saw an amazing lightning show in the distance.  I can never seem to get those lightning shots timed exactly though, so no photos of the show, just memories.

There were more formations of course, the most prominent being "Chimney Rock"; couldn't help but take shots of it as we got closer and closer.  Yes, another formation called "Chimney Rock", but this time in San Juan County, Utah.

We did find an information board at one point which explained about the Shafer Trail, Bighorn Sheep and various dos and don'ts.  Too bad those people we had seen driving cars up from Potash Road didn't stop and bother to read it.  Don't be fooled though, there are still several miles to go before you see pavement again; this ride is not over yet!

The potash collection pools are not too far away; once you get past them, you'll enter into Grand County.  Still a ways to go yet till you reach Potash Road itself; there will be various trails to the left and right, but "no trespassing" signs will keep you going in the correct direction.

Potash Collection Pools

Now Arches National Park has its "Balanced Rock" and so does the Shafer Trail; across from it, a small cave can be seen within the wall.

Once you see these rock formations, you're almost to Potash Road; ahead will be the boat basin and immediately the paved road. Don't be too keen to get off Potash Road quickly; you don't want to miss out seeing Jug Handle Arch, Wall Street (a mecca for "crack" climbers) and several areas of rock art.

We surely lucked out this day; the storm that had gone through dumped enough water onto the cliffs to form a waterfall.

We did it!  We drove the Shafer Trail!  Now this was a special day for us, not just because we drove the trail, but we were celebrating our anniversary too.  We treated ourselves to a most awesome dinner of prime rib and baked sweet potato at The Cowboy Grill at Red Cliffs Lodge; the view from our table did not disappoint.

Part Three will be the next installment of this most excellent adventure...the White Rim Trail.

Mary Cokenour