Capitol Reef National Park

 Capitol Reef National Park, UT

This is as close as we got to Arches National Park.  They recently implemented a reservation system and I wasn't paying attention

Bumming around in Utah

After The Grand Canyon we camped 1 night in Utah on the way to Capitol Reef National Park. Devil's Canyon Campground is just off US191.  It broke up the drive and was a nice stopover.  I got a new life bird there, the Woodhouse's Scrub Jay.  A few years ago they split the Western Scrub Jay into two species, Woodhouse's Scrub Jay and California Scrub Jay.  I also saw a snag filed with Turkey Vultures.  

I made sure to point out cool things to Donna as we drove

They were building a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad right next to the road

Utah State Line (there aren't casinos like Nevada)

Me pointing out more cool things on our drive

US 191 is a nice drive

A really nice drive

We've got your laughing place. Right up here.

  Capitol Reef National Park

The next day we pressed on to Capitol Reef National Park.  The drive to Capitol Reef from the north is AMAZING.  The scenery changes at every turn and each geological feature is different.  Capitol Reef sits in the middle of Wayne County UT and Wayne County UT sits in the middle of nowhere.  

Just in case Donna didn't see it

This part looked like we were entering Mordor

The 100th Red Cliff we have seen this week

The Capitol Reef National Park sign by itself

I forced a smile, Francis did not...

Another amazing drive

The red cliffs outside our campsite

When you book campsites online you have to do your research.  Different agencies call different sites different things.  I booked this tent only site thinking it was a site with no hookups for an RV but it turned out it was a "Walk Up Site".  That means you park your car and lug your stuff about 200 yards to a spot on a field.  Some people like these types of sites but we don't.  We sleep in our van so we ended up basically sleeping in a parking lot in a national park.  It wasn't optimal and I have since done a post mortem on this so it won't happen again.  I did see a Black-throated Sparrow so I got that going for me.

After setting up I went to the Visitors Center and used their Wi-Fi to book a hotel room for the next day.  We didn't want to spend 2 nights in the parking lot. I booked an additional night in Grand Junction, CO.  We will probably use the extra day to take a drive and get extra counties in Colorado that we hadn't counted on getting.

Still need more hot National Park action?  Check out our Grand Canyon visit here.