This was our first visit to Capitol Reef, and we loved it.  It's not as popular neighboring Bryce and Zion, which means it's a lot less crowded.  And our two nights at the Skyridge Bed & Breakfast in Torrey were outstanding.  After a day of hiking, we especially appreciated our two-person whirlpool tub.  We were also pleasantly surprised to find the dining in Southern Utah is much improved over our previous experience in 1998. 

Capitol Gorge
We arrived in the park in the afternoon.  It was too late and too hot to attempt any of the longer trails, so instead we took the Scenic Drive.  At the end of the drive a dirt road takes you to the trailhead of this short hike.  The path is through a gorge with smooth, steep canyon walls on either side.  You pass some Indian pictographs and the "Pioneer Register" (even as early as 1871 people liked to carve their names into the rock -- do so today and you risk a considerable fine) and end at "the tanks", a pair of natural waterpockets.  See "photographs".

Navajo Knob
This 9-mile round-trip hike climbs up 1,000-foot cliffs for a view of the Fruita Orchard and campground, then continues up some more for several miles to Navajo Knobs and a spectacular 360º panorama of the park.  We hiked up in the morning and enjoyed our lunch while taking in the fantastic view.  But by the time we turned around, any shade had disappeared, and it was very hot.  This may be the only hike where we've consumed more water on the way down than on the way up!

Andy's watch records the elevation (in meters).  Below you can find our progress mapped against the time, and follow the "photographs" link at the bottom of this page to see the views.

The Narrows
As you can see from the graph above, it was only 14:17 (that's 2:17pm for those of you who don't like 24 hour clocks!) when we got back to our car.  It was our last day in the park, and there were many trails we hadn't hiked.  So we decided to take the Grand Wash Trail as far as The Narrows, a point where the canyon narrows enough to give you some very welcome shade.  The very steep, very sheer canyon walls rising on both sides of trail cause you to take the warnings of flash floods very seriously.  But on this day, there wasn't a cloud in sight.

Photographs