Capital Reef

Mary at Hickman Bridge

We had hoped to take some of the dirt roads in the park today, but because of that recent rain, they are just mud. The rangers told us, that they should be dry in another 3 days and then they’ll try to push aside the mud. Oh, and the paved road just opened yesterday at 2:30 PM. So we visited the school house and one of the last settler’s cabins in Fruita. We just missed the last of the orchard fruit, apples were being picked as late as last week. We hiked to Hickman bridge a natural bridge up one of the canyons. Capital Reef is named after two features: the rock domes, one of which looks like the original U.S. capital dome, and the 100 miles worth of sandstone ridges, which are virtually impassable, just like reefs in the ocean. From our hike, we could see a lot of the domes as well as this beautiful bridge. Mary made it all the way, even though the trail was steep with steps in many spots. In the afternoon, we took the scenic drive, but with the major gorge roads closed, it was fairly disappointing. In the evening, we caught sunset from panorama point, it was spectacular. I attended the evening ranger program. It was mostly question and answers, but the rangers steered the conversation to interesting topics, like the Great Basin spadefoot toad. This toad spends most of its time deep in the sand waiting for a rain. There they become dehydrated, losing as much as 93% of their weight. When the rains come, they rehydrate, go on a eating binge for 2 days, mate and lay eggs. The eggs hatch into tadpoles in a few days, and their food is each other! The strongest survives and it reaches full maturity in 6 weeks, ready to bury itself in the sand and start the cycle again.

Sunset from Panorama Point